


of americanos and marigolds

by kwonjis



Category: NU'EST, Produce 101 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Attempt at Humor, Light Angst, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-01-08 13:39:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12255486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kwonjis/pseuds/kwonjis
Summary: café shifts, prep school kids, and intimidating biology partners?minki was in for onehellof a senior year.





	1. flour babies are too cliché

“And lastly, Choi Minki and Kang Dongho. These pairs are final and there will be no changing or swapping allowed.”

 

The moment Minki heard the name Kang Dongho he felt himself flinch a little. Seungcheol, who was seated next to him, seemed to be the only one who noticed this and patted his back pityingly. Their biology teacher rambled on about the assignment but Minki wasn’t listening. He was glancing across the row at his _partner_ , who was sitting with folded arms and looking at their teacher with the usual uninterested expression on his face. Minki looked back at his table and sighed, sliding down in his seat.

 

The sudden ring of the school bell jolted him out of his stupor and he sat up straight, looking around the room as his other classmates started finding their assigned partners. “Cheol, don’t leave me.” Minki whined, holding onto Seungcheol’s shirt as he stood up. “Why do you get all the luck?” He scowled as Seungcheol’s partner, a willowy boy with long hair approached them. Seungcheol grinned and high-fived the taller boy.

 

“You can’t separate the dream team.” He said in a sing-song voice.

 

“Shut up, Jeonghan.” Minki scoffed. Jeonghan raised his hands in surrender.

 

“Sorry man.” He said, sounding a little more sincere. Seungcheol pulled the strap of his bag over his shoulder and nudged his partner.

 

“We should get going.” He said. He looked at Minki apologetically. “I think _someone_ wants to talk to you.” Minki glanced at where Seungcheol was looking pointedly and felt his insides freeze for a second. Kang Dongho was making his way over from his side of the classroom.

 

Minki closed his eyes briefly as Seungcheol and Jeonghan left to discuss their project before plastering the most friendly smile he could muster up on his face as Dongho approached him.

 

“Uh, hey.” Dongho said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. Minki continued smiling, blinking as he took in the boy (correction: man) who made half the school duck their heads in wariness whenever he walked through the hallways. He would have looked his usual, slightly menacing self if it weren’t for the bright pink flower pot he was currently holding.

 

To be fair, Dongho wasn’t ugly. Minki could appreciate that. Anyone with eyes could see that. With a jawline that could kill and the slightly scruffy hint of stubble he left on his chin, he had the rugged kind of charm that most of the female (and male) population at school would fall for. Hell, he even had the physique of someone who could easily be the star player of the football team. But for some reason, he just _wasn’t._ He could easily have the school fall head over heels for him if he wanted it.

 

Instead, he was a lone wolf. An outsider. He didn’t speak a lot unless he was called on in class. He hardly ever smiled or laughed. Minki never saw him at parties and he was beginning to think that maybe Dongho didn’t have any friends. While Minki was surrounded by a group of his friends, Dongho was surrounded with whisperings. Minki wasn’t usually one to believe groundless rumours but with Dongho he just couldn’t tell what was true and what wasn’t.

 

During the start of sophomore year, Dongho had been absent for 3 weeks and came back with a cast on one arm, several bruises, and cuts all over his knuckles. He was withdrawn and didn’t answer when someone asked about his injuries. Soon, various rumours started flying around. Some said that he had gotten into a fight with a gang on the other end of town. Others said he had _joined_ a gang. No one really knew what the truth was. But ever since then, everyone had begun to feel wary of him. And Dongho’s lack of effort to argue against or correct the rumours did nothing to dissuade people. Even until now.

 

Which was why Minki still felt a pang of something akin to fear as Dongho placed the pink flower pot in front of him. “So,” Minki began, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. _Never let a tiger sense your fear_ he thought. Dongho pulled up a chair from the other table and sat down, leaning forward.

 

“What do you think we should name it?” He asked, sounding uninterested. Mr. Han, their biology teacher, had given them the task of raising a marigold plant in pairs because, although none of them could see the significance of this project in their learning, it would be a _“fun way to start senior year”_ and because _“flour babies are too cliché”_. Minki hummed and looked at the tiny plant that he and Dongho would be raising for the next 2 months.

 

“Alejandro.” Minki said proudly, looking up to meet Dongho’s eyes. _Shit, he’s gorgeous. Look at that jawline._ Dongho frowned at this.

 

“Alejandro? Why Alejandro?” He clearly didn’t like the sound of this. Minki rolled his eyes and huffed.

 

“Why not? I don’t see _you_ coming up with any fresh ideas.” As soon as he said this, Minki immediately felt like his insides had shrivelled up and died. Why, why, _why_ couldn’t he have stopped his stupid mouth? Did he really just talk back to _Kang Dongho_?

 

To Minki’s relief, Dongho simply shrugged and pulled out a marker from his bag. He wrote ‘Alejandro’ in surprisingly neat handwriting on the side of the flower pot. “Do you want to take him for the first week then?”

 

“Him?” Minki raised an eyebrow at this. “If I’ve learned anything from my last 4 years of taking this subject, it’s that plants are asexual and probably have no gender.” Dongho simply looked at him.

 

“I know. I was just humouring you.” Minki blinked at this. “So, do you wanna take _him_ this week? We can swap next Monday?” Dongho suggested.

 

“Alright. I’ll make sure not to let Alejandro die of thirst.” He said, pulling the plant closer to him. The other boy slid off his chair smoothly and pulled his bag on his back. He raised his hand as a gesture of goodbye.

 

“See you around then.” Minki watched Dongho walk away and slumped back in his seat, the tension leaving his body. _That wasn’t so bad, was it Minki?_ He thought. He glanced down at Alejandro and smiled.

 

**____________________**

 

Sometimes Minki wondered why he hung out with these ‘friends’ of his. He was sitting at one of the picnic tables outside the school building with Jeonghan and Seungcheol, watching as the other two squabbled uselessly over their plant-child (as Jeonghan called it). Personally, Minki was praying for the poor plant. Hopefully it could survive being under the care of this duo for two months.

 

“Listen,” Jeonghan said frustratedly. “This sunlight is _way_ too strong for it. It’s gonna get too hot and die. It’s like a human. If _you_ stood in this sun for too long you’d _also_ shrivel up and die.” Minki looked on as Jeonghan attempted to build a makeshift umbrella/tent/shelter for the plant. Seungcheol shook his head exasperatedly.

 

“Um, did you not pay attention at all in class? Plants need sunlight for photosynthesis or whatever it is they do. You’re literally _depriving_ it!” Minki rolled his eyes.

 

“What happened to the ‘Dream Team’?” He shot at the arguing pair. The two of them glared at each other before backing away from the mess they made on the table.

 

“We’re just in the middle of a rough patch. Nothing we can’t fix.” Jeonghan said simply, swiftly and sneakily moving their plant closer to him. “Anyways, how was your first meeting with _the_ _tiger_?” Minki ignored Seungcheol’s snickering.

 

“First, please don't _ever_ call him that again. It sounds so gross. Second, it was uneventful. He asked me to take this first week with Alejandro and then left. That’s it.”

 

“That’s it? Damn, I thought he would have totally decked you after being exposed to your annoyin-” Jeonghan swiftly dodged the book Minki threw at him. “Ass.” He finished, turning to Seungcheol and high-fiving him.

 

“Why do I even bother hanging out with you guys? And where the hell is Jonghyun? He said he would drive me to my interview after school.” Minki pouted, checking his watch. Seungcheol perked up at this.

 

“Oh? A job interview?” He asked excitedly, scooting closer to Minki. The boy nodded, his face scrunching up in annoyance.

 

“My parents nagged me for months. They went on and on this morning about how I had to _“stop spending so excessively”_ and to start being _“responsible”_ and to learn _“the value of money”_. I mean,” Seungcheol could tell Minki was about to go off on one of his infamous rants and reached over the picnic table to pat Minki’s hand reassuringly.

 

“They’re just looking out for you, man.” He said sympathetically. Minki shook his head.

 

“Can you _believe_ they wanted me to sell off my Gaga CD’s?! Like I didn’t starve myself for MONTHS to save up for them?!” Minki was nearly shouting at this point and was starting to gather stares from passing students. Seungcheol and Jeonghan looked at each other tiredly and tried to calm their agitated friend.

 

“Anyways…” Jeonghan had moved over to sit next to Minki instead and slung an arm around his shoulder. “Where’s your job interview at?” This question only seemed to deepen Minki’s frown.

 

“Some random cafe on the other end of town.” He scoffed. “My parents literally _forced_ me to call them up and ask for an interview after throwing the classified ads at me during breakfast today.” Jeonghan whistled. He elbowed Minki in the side, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

 

“The other end of town? That’s where all the prep school kids are! What if one of them ends up falling for you? Or what if one of them works at the cafe too and you end up falling for them? Imagine: you’re looking all hot and barista-y in your apron with rolled up sleeves and looking all focused making drinks an-”

 

“Keep your weird fantasies to yourself, asshole.” Minki pushed him away while Seungcheol dissolved into a laughing fit across them. “Anyways,” Minki trailed off after spotting a familiar black-haired boy walking their way. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Good luck deciding what to do with your plant-child.” He picked up Alejandro, waved goodbye to Seungcheol and Jeonghan and hurried over to his best friend.

 

“Hey, man.” Jonghyun smiled apologetically as he unlocked his car. He and Minki threw their bags into the backseat. Minki took care to tuck Alejandro in with a seatbelt to make sure his plant (son?) didn’t fall over during the journey. “Sorry, I got held up at the student council meeting.” Minki slid into the shotgun seat as Jonghyun started the engine.

 

“What’s the drama this time? Anything juicy?” The car pulled out of the school grounds and, while Jonghyun maneuvered the car smoothly, Minki took the opportunity to plug the AUX cord into his phone, scrolling through his music library seriously. Jonghyun smiled a little, shaking his head.

 

“Nothing like that. We were just discussing about plans for the homecoming dance.” A familiar tune started playing through Jonghyun’s car speakers and Jonghyun could see Minki’s legs moving in time to the beat. “Seongwoo got a little _too_ excited and talked non-stop for almost the whole hour. In the end we decided to let him form his own homecoming committee so they can meet on another day so we don’t end up staying in school until nighttime.”

 

“Good call. Once Seongwoo starts going, there’s no stopping him.” Minki mused. “Remember that time during assembly when he was asked to give a rundown on the latest theatre production?” Jonghyun laughed at this.

 

“How could _anyone_ forget? He would have started acting out the first scene of Macbeth by himself right there if Daniel hadn’t come up and dragged him off the stage.”

 

The two of them continued laughing and chatting comfortably as they continued driving. Outside, the difference between their own neighborhood and the unfamiliar one they had just entered became clear. The houses were slightly larger and newer than the ones they were more accustomed to. New, modern looking shops and restaurants lined the streets and Minki gaped at the kids walking around in what was unmistakably the uniform for Pencey Prep.

 

“Why do I feel like we just drove right onto the set of _Gossip Girl_ or something?” Minki stared at the pleated skirts and blazers that all the students were wearing. Jonghyun was distracted, looking for the cafe Minki was (hopefully) going to be working at.

 

“What did you say the cafe was called?” He asked. Minki made a face.

 

“ _unsigned._ Isn’t it pretentious? I bet you it’s some lame ass hipster cafe that plays that awful indie music that all sounds the same with weird artists and vegans as regular customers.” Minki shuddered at the thought of having to suffer through the same boring playlist again and again every shift. As an avid lover of pop music, he couldn’t understand the appeal of the whiny, half-whispering voices he associated indie music with.

 

Jonghyun parked the car in front of a moss green cafe with the name _unsigned_ painted neatly in white letters on the black sign that sat above the entrance of the store. Jonghyun could sense Minki’s reluctance and (though the other boy wouldn’t admit it) nervousness. He turned the engine off and turned to face his best friend. “You’re gonna be fine. They’re gonna love you.” He said as reassuringly as possible. Minki gave him a small smile. “Do you want me to come in with you? For moral support? I’ll bring in Alejandro too so he doesn’t suffocate in the car.” The boy shook his head.

 

“Nah, it’s cool. It probably won’t take longer than 15 minutes. Thanks though.” Minki straightened up in his seat and fixed his hair, using his phone as a mirror. “How do I look?”

 

“Like a model.” Jonghyun said honestly. Minki had changed into a sensible looking striped pale blue button down shirt and a pair of black jeans after school. He still wore gray contacts that made him look a little fiercer than usual but his hair was styled neatly, his fringe combed down to soften his overall appearance. He wasn’t even wearing eyeliner today. Jonghyun felt proud and clapped his friend on the back as he got out of the car. Minki turned around one last time.

 

“If I don’t come out after 20 minutes tops, I give you permission to barge in and save me.” He said solemnly. Jonghyun nodded, crossing his heart in an unspoken promise.

 

“Go knock ‘em dead.”


	2. nice to meet you, mr. president

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i accidentally posted the unedited version of this chapter earlier but i deleted it right after, i'm so sorry for the false update notification :(

When Minki stepped into _unsigned_ , he was hit a sweet, rustic kind of smell that brought to mind feelings of coziness and warmth. The cafe was bigger than he had initially thought it to be from looking at it outside. To the left of the entrance, sitting in front of the large glass window panes, was a small wooden platform with a pair of armchairs flanking a small table on either side. Similar clusters of this set up were scattered around the place, wooden chairs replacing the cushy armchairs here and there. To the right of the entrance was a long wooden table with tall stools facing the wall. The counter was tucked away in the corner furthest away from the entrance and Minki could see one lone barista managing the scene by himself. _Not that there was much to manage._ Minki thought as he counted the number of customers easily on both of his hands. The walls were decorated with artfully arranged posters of musicians whose names Minki didn’t recognise (as expected) with the exception of the wall opposite the wooden platform which had wall mounted planters filled with an assortment of succulent plants instead.

 

Deciding that he had spent too long lingering at the entrance, he made his way over to the counter. The barista was busy stirring something in a tub and didn’t see Minki approaching. “Uh, excuse me,” Minki started. The barista stopped what he was doing and turned around when he realised someone was at the counter.

 

The boy looked to be around his age and was slightly taller. He had sharp features and a kind of beauty that Minki hadn’t seen at his school and Minki found himself gawking. The barista looked at Minki with fox-like eyes and smiled gently, momentarily stunning him. “Hi, what can I get for you?” He said in a pleasant voice.

 

Snapping himself out of his brief stupor, Minki smiled back. “I’m looking for Aron-ssi? I’m supposed to be here for an interview.” The barista's smile widened and he nodded.

 

“Ah, Minki right? Aron-hyung should be back soon. I’m Minhyun, by the way.” The other boy asked, offering his hand out for a handshake. The two shook hands over the counter quickly. “I can get you something to drink in the meantime? What would you like?”

 

A few minutes later, Minki found himself standing at the counter with a mug of hot chocolate in his hands. He took a few sips before looking up to see Minhyun staring at him. “You don’t go to Pencey do you?” Minhyun remarked after what seemed like an eternity of silence.

 

“No, why?” Minki must have sounded a bit too defensive and Minhyun’s gaze softened. He laughed lightly.

 

“Nothing. I’ve just never seen you at school before. And Pencey _is_ kind of a small school.”

 

“I mean, it’s not like you _have_ to know everyone at school?”

 

“When you’re the class president, you kind of have to.” Minhyun said grinning. Minki stared, processing this information. So the boy wasn’t only handsome, but smart and (most likely) well loved by his classmates? It’s like he stepped out one of those cheesy high school rom-coms Minki loved to watch. Prep school boys truly were a different breed.

 

They continued chatting amicably for a few more minutes, Minki leaning against the counter as Minhyun bustled around on the other side. Minki learned that they were both the same age, both seniors at their respective schools. Minhyun had started working at _unsigned_ since it opened a year and a half ago and considered himself to be a veteran among the part-timers. Aron had apparently been one of Minhyun’s seniors at school before he had graduated and needed employees desperately when he opened _unsigned_ so naturally Minhyun offered to join. “He’s like a brother to me.” Minhyun said fondly. Minki smiled at this. “He’s kind of an idiot sometimes but he’s got a good heart.”

 

“Aw, that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said about me,” A voice cooed from behind Minki, who jumped a little and turned around. Minhyun, who had been preoccupied with stacking mugs neatly on the shelves, turned as well and grinned at the man standing behind Minki.

 

Aron was smiling at them, a cheeky glint in his eyes ( _was being good looking a prerequisite to working here?_ Minki thought dryly). Aron didn’t look like what Minki was expecting. While Minhyun was elegance and grace incarnate in his white button-up and black pants, Aron was more casual and relaxed in the oversized flannel shirt and ripped jeans that he pulled off spectacularly. He was standing next to a trolley with boxes piled dangerously high and Minhyun hurried over to steady one stack that had started swaying perilously. “Why didn’t you call me? I could have come out and carried some of these in for you,” Minhyun huffed at Aron, picking up a few boxes. “Minki, this is Aron-hyung.”

 

The older boy stepped forward, shaking Minki’s hand as Minhyun disappeared into the room next to the counter with the boxes. “Ah, we talked on the phone this morning. I’m Aron, as Minhyun already said. It’s so nice to meet you, Minki!” Aron’s voice was friendly and any trace of trepidation Minki might have had disappeared. Minki returned his warm smile likewise. “Why don’t you take a seat at one of the tables first? I’ll come over once I put the rest of these away.”

 

A few minutes later, Minki found himself seated in one of the cushy looking armchairs with Aron occupying the one across him. “So,” The older boy started, looking at the younger seriously.. “I’m gonna skip the whole ‘Why do you want to work here?’ question and stuff like that because honestly the chances of you being a student in need of some steady cash are way higher than that of you being a passionate coffee connoisseur like myself.” Minki swallowed after hearing this.

 

The sudden laughter that erupted from Aron took Minki by surprise (read: shock) and he didn’t know whether he should join in or keep staring so he decided to take a nervous sip from his mug. Aron continued chattering on, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “I’m just kidding. I don’t really care why you want to work here unless of course you’re some kind of spy from another cafe trying to gather intel on me,” Minki shook his head at this, feeling bewildered. “Alright then! That’s it for the interview. I just need to know what days you’re free during the week to work and when you want to start.”

 

“That’s it? You’re not gonna ask me if I have any experience or anything else like that?” Minki blurted out. Aron laughed again, seemingly amused by Minki’s confusion.

 

“Nope. I mean, Minhyun knew  _nothing_ about making coffee when he first started here. You just learn as you go along. I’m not really particular about employees either, they just need to be hardworking.” He took a sip from his own mug after saying this, leaving Minki to mull over what the older had just said.

 

“Uh, alright then. Well, I can work Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. And the whole of Saturday if you need me.” Minki said after mentally going over his schedule for the semester. Aron looked at him, tilting his head.

 

“Aren’t you in high school? What about your school work?” He asked, concerned. “That’s quite a lot of days you’re offering. Minhyun doesn’t even work on weekends because he’s studying.” Minki felt a rush of warmth, touched at Aron’s concern, and suddenly felt like maybe this whole working arrangement and financial responsibility thing wasn’t going to be too bad if his future manager was this kind.

 

“You can just schedule me down for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays then.” Minki said, watching Aron’s concern melt away. Aron was a surprisingly easy book to read. “If you need me on Saturdays though you can just let me know a couple hours ahead and I can come down.”

 

“You’re too kind, Minki.” Aron was smiling even more now, nothing but genuine kindness emanating from his eyes. “Where do you stay?”

 

The two of them continued making small talk for what seemed like ages. Aron was surprised to hear that Minki lived on the other end of the town closer to Carmel High (“Isn’t that a long bus ride for you?”) but Minki had reassured him that his friend could drop him off on his Monday and Friday shifts (Jonghyun had tutoring sessions that ran late on Wednesdays so Minki would have to commute by himself). Minki also learned that Aron dropped out of university half-way through his first year and opened up _unsigned_ instead. (“I enjoy running this place more than flipping through law books.” Aron had said with a shrug.)

 

When they had exhausted every possible conversation topic, Aron invited Minki over to the counter and brought out a slice of cake for him to eat. “Seonho would be heartbroken to see you giving away a slice for free.” Minhyun said dryly.

 

“Who’s Seonho?” Minki said around a mouthful of cake.

 

“Seonho’s this middle school student who  _adores_ Minhyun and has the stomach of a cow.” Aron answered.

 

“ _Ten_ cows.” Minhyun grumbled, wiping down the counter. “We used to give him free food and drinks until we discovered that he could run us bankrupt with a single visit here. He goes through a whole cake by himself and _still_ says he’s hungry.”

 

“His parents banned him from coming here after finding out about his little endeavours. Now, he only comes by whenever Minhyun texts him about leftover cakes after closing.” Aron finished.

 

“Oh, I wanted to ask,” Minki suddenly remembered. “Are there other part-timers besides Minhyun and I?” He finished the last bite of the cake and dusted the crumbs off the counter and onto the cake plate.

 

“Well on weekdays I’ve got Minhyun and Kenta. Kenta goes to Pencey too. On weekends it’s usually just me, Zhengting, and Eunki. They’re both studying dance at some academy out of the city but they drive back down here to visit Zhengting’s family. That’s why I said you didn’t really need to work on Saturday, although I really do appreciate the offer.” Aron said, grinning as he took Minki’s empty plate and deposited it in the sink behind the counter. “You’re always welcome to come by when you’re not working. I could always whip you up something to drink.

 

“Yeah,” Minhyun joined in after handing a drink to a waiting customer. “It’s really nice to study here. It’s never usually crowded. Aron-hyung usually chases out large study groups because it disturbs the other customers but if it’s just you or another friend it’s fine.”

 

“I do _not_ chase them off. I ask them to leave politely.” Aron argued hotly.

 

“You put on that deranged expression that you only get when you start laughing hysterically at something stupid, it’s enough to chase _anyone_ away.” Minhyun shot back. Minki laughed, basking in the friendly, cheerful atmosphere filling the air.

 

“Now _that’s_ something I definitely don’t see everyday.” Aron said abruptly, looking at something behind Minki with an amused expression.

 

Minki must have spent longer in the cafe than he had realised because when he turned around, Jonghyun ( _Bless him._ Minki thought fondly.) was walking in with Alejandro’s pink flowerpot cradled in one arm. His eyes scanned the cafe carefully, probably searching for Minki. “Oh, that’s my best friend. He drove me here.” Minki said to Jonghyun and Minhyun, waving the other boy over.

 

A wide smile broke out on Jonghyun’s face when he noticed Minki and he made his way over to the counter to join the three of them. “Jonghyun, this is Aron-hyung and Minhyun.” Minki introduced. Jonghyun politely smiled at the other two who returned with smiles of their own. Minki thought that Minhyun looked a little wide eyed, his smile a little too forced but he didn’t dwell too much on it.

 

“It’s so nice to meet you,” Aron said, offering a handshake. Jonghyun placed Alejandro down on the countertop and grasped the other’s hand firmly. “And you brought a present too! How thoughtful!” Minki coughed loudly while Jonghyun let out a little laugh.

 

“Actually, that’s my biology project.” Minki admitted, patting the edge of the flowerpot. Minhyun seemed to have snapped out of whatever tired haze he was in and looked at him with an interested expression.

 

“Raising a plant?” Minhyun asked, peering into the pot. The tiny flower sprout wasn’t much to look at but Minhyun seemed to find it fascinating for some reason. “I’d rather raise a plant than write another boring lab report. Pencey sucks all the fun out of school sometimes.” He sighed.

 

“Oh!” Minki exclaimed. “Jonghyun! Minhyun’s the class president at Pencey! He’s like the you of their school.” Minhyun’s cheeks flushed a delicate pink at this and Jonghyun let out another laugh.

 

“Nice to meet you, Mr. President.” Jonghyun said jokingly, sticking out a hand to offer a handshake. Minhyun, cheeks still pink, cleared his throat and shook the other’s hand.

 

“Nice to meet you too, Mr. President.” Minhyun said back with a small smile.

 

After exchanging numbers with Minhyun and Aron, the latter started packing some cake slices into a box for Jonghyun and Minki to bring back. “I _insist_.” He said, ignoring the younger two’s feeble protests as he waved them out the door. “Minki, I’ll see you on Wednesday! Jonghyun, you’re welcome to stop by anytime!”

 

As Jonghyun’s car pulled away from cafe, Minki sighed and leaned back in the car seat. “Jonghyun, I can’t believe how lucky I am.” He said, thinking of how comfortable Aron and Minhyun had made him feel. There been very minimal moments of awkwardness and Minki appreciated how caring Aron was towards him and Minhyun, even though the older had only just met Minki today. Jonghyun glanced at his friend with a small smile on his face.

 

“They seem like good people.” Jonghyun said honestly. “I think you should thank your parents for forcing you into that phone call this morning.”

 

“I’ll never complain about doing chores ever again.” Minki promised, crossing his heart.

 

“Right, let’s see how long that lasts.” Jonghyun faked a flinch as Minki lightly smacked him on the shoulder.

 

After Jonghyun dropped Minki off at his place, Minki dumped his bag on his floor and placed Alejandro’s pot on his desk. His eyes lingered for a moment on the letters that Dongho had written earlier that day before shaking his head.

 

Minki managed to get through his readings for tomorrow’s classes before he started feeling too groggy to focus. He checked Alejandro’s soil, making sure it wasn’t dried, before turning his desk light off and throwing himself into bed. He scrolled through his social media accounts for a bit, snickering at videos now and then. before falling asleep with his hand still holding his phone.

 

That night, Minki dreamt of poets, pastries, and potted plants.

 

____________________

 

Walking into first period biology the next morning, Minki was stunned to see that the only empty seat left in the room was next to Dongho. He glanced around the room, noticing that everyone else seemed to be sitting in their respective pairs for the plant project, and sighed a little before making his way over to his partner’s table. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Seungcheol and Jeonghan giving him thumbs up signs while grinning idiotically.

 

Dongho flashed him a quick nod as Minki sat down, as if acknowledging the other’s existence, before turning back to his notebook. Minki pulled out his textbook and pens, noting the way his current seatmate kept his eyes glued firmly to whatever it was he was writing. Curious, he leaned over. He managed to get a glimpse of hastily written words (which he could barely decipher) before the notebook was flipped over swiftly. He looked up into Dongho’s face, which was set into a tight frown, and leaned back into his own space.

 

“Sorry, I was just wondering what you were working on.” Minki said weakly. Dongho’s expression softened a little bit, but Minki noticed his hand resting firmly on top of the notebook.

 

“I was just writing a letter. To a friend.” Minki could tell he wasn’t being entirely truthful but decided not to prod at the matter any further.

 

Class started smoothly enough. Whatever tension was left over from the notebook incident dissipated as both boys started focusing on the lesson. They diligently took down notes, hands flying across their own notebooks as they kept up with their unrelenting teacher. While Mr. Han seemed like a goofy kind of guy, he was serious during important lectures and often pushed on like a steam engine.

 

Halfway through the lesson, Mr. Han paused his lecture to give more instructions on the plant project he had assigned them all. “I hope I’m not getting my hopes up too high by thinking that all of your plants are still alive and well?” The majority of the class nodded enthusiastically. “Great!” He said, clapping his hands together. “I forgot to mention this last class but on top of taking care of the plant, you’ll need to work in your assigned pairs on two presentations. The first presentation will be in 3 weeks. I’ve assigned topics to each group, I'll flash them up on the projector in a bit. The second presentation will be about the overall process of your plants’ growth. That will be presented at the end of the 2 months you’re assigned with the plant. Basically you should be taking photos and recording everything that happens to the plant until then. Hopefully all of your plants will have bloomed by the end of 2 months. Any questions?”

 

A couple of hands shot up and various voices shouted across the room.

 

“Sir, what if our plant doesn’t bloom? Will we lose marks?”

 

“If the plant dies before we have to bring it back to class, do we automatically fail the presentation component too because we’d have nothing to present on?”

 

Minki snickered at some of these and glanced over at Dongho, who was writing something down. Leaning over into the other’s space, he whispered, “I feel like Alejandro’s in better hands than the rest of his siblings.” Dongho appeared not to have heard this and Minki frowned at the lack of reaction.

 

Feeling slightly peeved at being brushed off (but also slightly nervous after remembering the notebook incident from earlier in class), Minki leaned back into his own space. He eyed Dongho warily and decided to keep his mouth shut unless Dongho had anything to say to him first. 

 

Thankfully, Mr. Han had flashed up the topics assigned to each group and Minki welcomed the distraction as he took down the presentation topic that had been assigned to him and Dongho. As lesson continued Minki found himself copying down every last word right until the school bell rang, signalling the end of the lesson. Dongho was quick to pack away his things while Minki dawdled behind, still finishing the diagram he was drawing.

 

Noticing that his partner was about to leave, Minki quickly scribbled something down on a piece of paper before grabbing the other’s arm. Dongho turned back around, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. “Uh,” Minki quickly released his grip on Dongho’s arm and handed him the piece of paper he had written on earlier. “I figured we should start planning that first presentation soon. That’s my number, you can just shoot me a text when you’re free to meet up or something.”

 

Dongho looked at the paper in his hand and tucked it away in his jeans pocket. “Yeah, alright. I’ll see you around then.” He said, giving a little nod and walking away. Minki watched him leave and shook his head. He was trying his damn best to be a little friendly but Dongho clearly wasn’t returning the favour. _Business is business._ Minki thought as he packed away the rest of his things.

 

The rest of the day flew by quickly. Minki shuttled from class to class, falling into a familiar routine. As a senior, his classes had become more difficult. There was a lot more content on the syllabus than he was used to but Minki figured he and his friends could just split the notes and study together. Juggling this workload and shifts at _untitled_ didn’t seem too difficult and Minki felt like he could take anything on (he considered himself to be somewhat of an optimist at times).

 

Since he didn’t have any club meetings to attend, Minki spent the rest of his Tuesday afternoon at Jonghyun’s house. Jonghyun had insisted they start getting ahead in their class readings and notes so that they could stay on top of things and Minki let his ambitious friend drag him into an intense study session. Despite whining and grumbling about these sessions, Minki was grateful deep-down for his friend. Jonghyun had helped him survive calculus in their junior year and for that, Minki owed Jonghyun his life.

 

In the middle of writing notes for literature, Minki felt his phone buzz.

 

**_From: unknown number (5:12pm)_ **

_hey, it’s dongho._

_do you wanna meet up after school tomorrow to start on the presentation?_

 

Minki sighed. Tomorrow? He was starting his first shift at the cafe! _What kind of timing_. He thought bitterly, as he saved Dongho’s contact details and typed out a reply.

 

**_To: tiger (5:14pm)_ **

_hey! sorry i cant make it tomorrow but i could do thursday?_

 

**_From: tiger (5:15pm)_ **

_ok._

 

The unenthusiastic reply left Minki feeling a little nervous. Did he piss him off for bailing on Wednesday? That wasn’t fair though, Minki had a good reason for not being able to make it. He sighed. He’ll just deal with this when Thursday rolls around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i suck at writing dialogue so excuse any shabby, awkward lines
> 
> thank you all for subscribing and for the kudos! i really appreciate it!
> 
> and i know there isn't a lot of baekren interactions at the moment but the next chapter will have a little more :)


	3. salt and vinegar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay! i've had a severe case of writer's block the past week :(
> 
> congrats to nu'est w for their first win! i'm so happy for them they deserve it so so much

When the school bell signalled the end of classes for Wednesday, Minki found himself feeling excited as he hurried out of the school doors towards the bus stop. Aron had sent him a message telling him to bring a white button-up shirt (as uniform) that morning so Minki changed into it the moment school ended. As he watched the now familiar stretch of shops and the students walking around in their much fancier uniforms, Minki’s feelings of anticipation grew.

 

Minki's footsteps felt light as he walked into _unsigned._ He made a beeline for the counter and saw Aron and Minhyun pulling out large speakers and some mic stands from what Minki assumed was the break room.

 

“Do you guys need help with that?” He asked, quickly depositing his bag behind the counter. Aron shot him a grateful smile and together the three of them dragged what seemed to be a mini sound system out onto the little wooden platform by the entrance of the cafe. Minki realised it was set up to be a tiny stage. The armchairs and table that he had seen on his first visit had been relocated and in its place now stood the speakers and mic stands.

 

“What’s all this for?” He asked, looking at Aron curiously. The older boy chuckled.

 

“Well, tonight we’re having an ‘Open Mic’ at _unsigned_!” He said enthusiastically, clapping his hands together. “It gives any aspiring musicians or poets the opportunity to share their art with other fellow artists and people who would appreciate it. I figured since the majority of our customers ran with that kind of crowd it wouldn’t really hurt to give them a space to share their art.”

 

“Plus it helps boost coffee sales.” Minhyun added helpfully. “We run it every Wednesday night.”

 

“I guess my first shift here is going to an interesting one.” Minki said, already curious about the performances he would see tonight.

 

“Oh, I’ll need to train you first before you do anything else,” Aron said, as the three of them made their way back to the counter. Minhyun had run off ahead, spotting a customer approaching the register. “It’s not too hard but it’ll get easier once you start going through the motions yourself.” He added.

 

After handing Minki a black apron similar to the ones Minhyun and Aron were also wearing, Aron began Minki’s crash course on the job. For the next hour or so Minki learned the names of all the drinks on the menu, which cakes were the best match for which drink, how to run the various machines (he barely managed to not burn himself from the hot steam), and how to use the cash register. Aron might have looked a little clumsy to Minki but as soon as he started on making drinks he turned a complete 180. His hands moved swiftly, almost elegantly as he whipped up drink after drink.

 

The cafe had started filling up a little more now as people started arriving for the open mic. Between taking customer orders, Minki sneaked glances at the stage. Some people had started testing the mics out, a few of them holding guitars, ukuleles, and Minki even noticed someone bringing in a keyboard. Others were sitting and reciting fervently from the papers and notebooks strewn on the tables in front of them. There was an air of excitement in the cafe and Minki couldn’t help but feel eager about tonight’s affairs.

 

At around 6:30 the steady trickle of customers into the cafe had slowed down and Minki was able to finally take a breath as he handed the last customer in line her drink. Resting his elbows on the countertop, he watched her find a seat in the now crowded cafe. It wasn’t _overly_ crowded but it was filled enough that Minki couldn’t see any empty seats left, a striking juxtaposition to the scene that he had come across just two days earlier.

 

Aron walked up onto the little stage and cleared his throat into the mic, gathering the attention of the crowd. He shot a dazzling smile at the audience before saying, “It’s good to see you all tonight! I recognise some familiar faces,” He winked at two boys clutching their guitars by the side of the stage who grinned and waved back. “We welcome any and all who want to share a little something with us. If you didn’t get a chance to sign up this week, next week’s sign up sheet will be set up tomorrow morning. ” He proceeded to introduce the first act of the night, one of the boys he had winked at earlier. Jaehwan, as Aron had cheerfully chirped, settled down on the stool as naturally as if he had done this a hundred times before.

 

Goosebumps ran up and down Minki’s arms as he listened to the boy sing, voice flooded with emotions about the sorrow of an unrequited love. He listened to the performance with rapture, eyes fixed on the stage. At the boy’s final, trembling note, the cafe burst into applause. A few people were dabbing at their eyes with their sleeves, tissues, or whatever they had on hand. Minhyun elbowed him in the side lightly, snapping Minki out of his trance.

 

“That was incredible,” Minki breathed, still feeling chills from the performance. Minhyun let out a content sigh and copied Minki’s posture, resting his elbows on top of the counter with his chin in his hands.

 

“Jaehwan’s been performing here every night since we started the open mic.” He murmured, lowering his voice as the next person took the stage. “He usually sings covers but every now and then he throws out an original song.” Minki listened as he half-heartedly took down a customer’s second order for the evening.

 

The next performances continued to blow Minki’s mind. A particularly heart-wrenching poem brought tears to his eyes and he had to shove Minhyun away as the other boy teased him lightly. Aron kept his position by the stage, helping with the set-up for each set and watching everything with an expression of pure adoration. The performers were of differing ages, from high school students to working adults, but they all held themselves up with an air of surety and their words, spoken or sung, hit Minki on various levels and invoked feelings which left his mind reeling. One second he’d be humming and swaying to a cheerful song about summer and love and the next second his heart would be shattering into pieces as he listened to the woes of a scorned lover achingly written with a rhythm and flow that could put Shakespeare to shame.

 

The night ended off with the other guitarist that Aron had winked at earlier in the evening. Sewoon, as Aron announced, sat on the same stool and started plucking at his guitar, filling the air with a melancholy tune. Minki had to tear his gaze away from the stage and the crowd that had started to slowly sway side to side as Minhyun gently prodded at him to start clearing up the counter. As Sewoon’s final notes hung in the air, the crowd applauded enthusiastically and Aron took to the stage to give his thanks and wish everyone a good night.

 

While the majority of the crowd started to leave, a few of the performers stayed back. They lingered near the stage, talking with Aron. Minki went around the cafe, picking up mugs and plates and cleaning all the tables while Minhyun finished up at the counter. As he cleared up one of the tables near the stage, a tall blur rushed passed him and headed straight for the counter. He turned around and saw a tall lanky kid clinging onto Minhyun’s side.

 

Approaching the counter, he could hear the kid chattering excitedly into Minhyun’s ear. “Hyuunnng, I missed you so much! Are you coming to my basketball game this Friday?” Minhyun’s expression was a mixture of exasperation and fondness and he patted the kid’s shoulders.

 

“I promised I would, didn’t I?” He said, finally managing to peel the clingy boy off of him. He spotted Minki approaching and gestured for him to come closer. “Seonho, this is Minki. He’s our new part-timer.” Seonho, the cake lover from what Minki remembered, grinned widely and hugged him. Minhyun laughed at Minki hesitantly hugging the younger boy back.

 

“You’re so cute, hyung.” Seonho said unabashedly, tilting his head and smiling after releasing Minki from his grasp. Minhyun distracted Seonho by offering him slices of the leftover cake from the day and Seonho let out an excited screech before grabbing the plate and plopping down at the nearest table.

 

“He’s adorable.” Minki said to Minhyun, watching as the younger boy inhaled the first slice in seconds.

 

“Yeah,” He said, smiling softly. “Anyways, you look like you enjoyed tonight’s performances.” Enjoyed was an understatement. Minki absolutely _loved_ it.

 

“Not gonna lie, I thought this place was gonna be some washed up hipster cafe with horrible music and even worse customers,” Minhyun let out a laugh at this. “But clearly I was wrong. I think I'll definitely enjoy working here especially now that I know I have something to look forward to on Wednesdays.”

 

“I’m glad,” Minhyun said sincerely. “Hey, Aron-hyung!” He suddenly shouted over Minki. “I can close up here with you, Minki should get going since he’s still got to wait for the bus.” Aron, who had been chattering with Jaehwan and Sewoon, shot Minhyun and Minki a thumbs-up.

 

“Finally, freedom!” Minki jokingly shouted. He took off his apron, hung it in the break room and grabbed his things. “I’ll see you on Friday?” He asked Minhyun.

 

“Yep! I’ll see you then.” Minhyun smiled before Minki clapped him lightly on the shoulder and waving goodbye to Seonho, who was begging Minhyun for some more cake.

 

Aron caught him before he left and gave him a huge hug, thanking him for everything he did today and promising not to have him stay too long next time. “Wouldn’t want you to get too worn out for school.” He said kindly. "Did you manage alright with Minhyun?"

 

Minki nodded. "I mostly manned the cashier though, I think it'll take some time to get used to making all the drinks."

 

"It took me a while to get used to it too, don't worry. Anyways, I'll see you again on Friday! Get home safe!" Aron walked him to the door and waved cheerfully as Minki headed off to wait for the bus that would take him home. 

 

____________________

 

The universe had a funny way of doing things. After giving Minki one of the best Wednesdays of his life, it suddenly seemed hell-bent on making his Thursday one of the worst ones yet.

 

Thursday morning arrived in the form of Jeonghan phoning him and demanding to know why he wasn't in homeroom yet resulting in Minki running out of his house in a rumpled uniform and half a piece of toast in one hand. On his way to school, he had tripped on his untied laces and tore a hole in the knees of his pants, leading him to get sent to the principal’s office for failing to keep the dress code when a teacher spotted him. A pop quiz sprung on his math class by his ruthless teacher was just icing on the cake.

 

Needless to say, Minki was in a pretty dejected mood by the time he managed to reunite with Jonghyun and his other friends at lunch. They eyed Minki warily as he wailed about his woes and sufferings.In an attempt to lighten up the mood and distract his friend, Jonghyun scooted closer to Minki and asked, “How did your first shift go?” Minki perked up a little at this, eyes shining a little brighter.

 

Minki started gushing about all the amazing performances, about all the poems and songs that sounded like they were crafted by gods instead of regular human beings living in the same area as them. He told them about how he had teared up multiple times throughout the night and how he started wishing that he could make something just as beautiful as everything that he had seen and heard. “You guys should come by next week or something, it’ll be fun!” Jonghyun smiled, happy to hear that his friend had settled into cafe work well.

 

“Will we get to mooch drinks off of you?” Jeonghan asked, unashamed. Seungcheol snorted into his food while Minki threw a napkin at the long-haired boy.

 

“Hannie, be nice.” Seungcheol chided. The boy in question shrugged and went back to eating his own food.

 

“It’s good to see you two finally got through your ‘rough patch’. How’s your plant doing? Still alive?” Minki said pointedly.

 

“Alive and _thriving_ ,” Jeonghan looked pretty smug about this. “We’re keeping it over at Cheol’s place since we’re pretty much there every day after school.”

 

“How domestic.” Minki retorted, poking at his lunch.

 

“What about you and the tiger?” Minki froze for a second before giving a non-committal little scoff.

 

“We haven’t really seen each other out of class so it’s not like anything new happened.” He replied, still jabbing around at his tray. “He wants to meet in the library after school today to get started on our presentation for bio.”

 

Jonghyun sensed something seemed to bug Minki about this so he shot Jeonghan and Seungcheol a look to get them to stop asking any more questions. Thankfully, the other two were able to catch on and left it at that.

 

When the school bell rang once more to signal the end of the school day, Minki trudged over to the library. He was slightly nervous about meeting Dongho one on one. After the unfriendly sounding reply from the other boy, Minki had started feeling a little wary of Dongho. He wondered if their opinions would clash, if they would argue and if he would end up on the receiving end of the other’s infamous temper flare-ups. Minki had kept telling himself not to let the rumours get to him but after his attempts to make conversation had been shut down by the other boy he had started to feel discouraged.

 

Minki spotted an empty table by one of the large windows in the library and hurried over to claim it.

 

**_To: tiger (3:30pm)_ **

_i got to the library first im by one of the window tables :)_

 

As Minki waited for Dongho to arrive, he hummed softly to himself. The library wasn’t particularly crowded today so he started singing a little more, making sure not to be too loud. He looked out the window and took in the clear skies and the trees swaying softly with the wind. He was so preoccupied with his daydreaming that he didn’t notice that Dongho had sat down across him until the other boy cleared his throat.

 

“You sing pretty well,” Dongho said, not meeting Minki’s eyes as he rummaged through his bag. At his words, Minki felt his face heat up but he found himself smiling a little.

 

“Thanks.” Silence fell between them once again but this time, it didn’t feel quite as awkward as before. Minki had grown a little more accustomed to these moments. “So, about the presentation…”

 

The two of them spent the next half hour or so discussing their project. Initially, both had been wary to insist on their own opinions but after realising that they were both more or less looking to tackle the project at similar angles, they let go of the fear of offending each other and began throwing themselves into the assignment with more gusto. Dongho had started speaking up more, systematically planning out the flow of their presentation and selecting the main points to present on with Minki. The latter had noticed that the look in Dongho’s eyes had changed. He looked more determined, more focused.

 

“We should take a break,” Minki said in mid-yawn as he stretched his arms out over his head. Brainstorming had slowed down quite a bit and Minki felt that a much-needed break would help them take a step back before looking at the project again with fresher minds. “Alright,” Dongho said, leaning back in his seat.

 

A thought popped into Minki’s head and he found himself blurting out, “Let’s play ‘Would You Rather’,” Dongho raised an eyebrow at this causing Minki to backtrack hastily. “I mean, only if you want t-”

 

“Sure, you start.” Taken by surprise, Minki gaped at him. Dongho shrugged. “It’s not like we have anything else to do.”

 

Minki narrowed his eyes as he stared at Dongho, thinking hard about what to ask. “Okay,” Minki said, grinning. “Would you rather have unlimited sushi or unlimited tacos for life?”

 

“Tacos,” Dongho said seriously.

 

“I’m more of a sushi person myself,” Minki said, laughing at Dongho’s expression. “Your turn.”

 

“Umm,” The other boy was deep in thought and Minki couldn’t help but giggle at this. “Would you rather have perfect grades or perfect hair?” Dongho said lamely.

 

“Perfect grades. Why? Do I really seem like that much of a ditz?” He joked. Minki was aware of the image he had to the rest of the school. He couldn’t blame Dongho for also thinking that he was just another dramatic, loud, airheaded kid with a diva-complex.

 

But Dongho’s reply surprised him.

 

“You’re not a ditz. At least I don’t think you are.” He said evenly. “Anyways if you were, we wouldn’t have accomplished what we’ve managed to do today.” Minki blinked, words failing him momentarily.

 

“Thanks,” He finally managed to say, his voice soft. “So uh, my turn I guess?”

 

They continued on for a few more minutes but the air between them was different now. Minki felt himself being more comfortable with the other boy and he hoped that Dongho felt the same.

 

“Flying powers or invisibility?” (Dongho had chosen flying.)

 

“Go deaf or blind?” (Minki had nearly wailed at this before grudgingly picking to go blind. “I can’t live without music.” He said, shuddering at the thought.)

 

“Okay this is the last one,” Minki said, giving Dongho a sly look. “Would you rather eat salt and vinegar chips for the rest of your life or eat sour cream and onion chips for the rest of your life? What?” Dongho was giving him a confused expression. “I need to know if you and I are on the same page, this is very important.”

 

“Was this whole game just a way for you test if you and I were compatible enough to be friends?” Dongho said, letting out a small smile.

 

“Don’t dodge the question!” Minki said, wagging his finger at him. The little laugh that Dongho let out had him smiling wide.

 

“Salt and vinegar.”

 

“An excellent answer,” Minki said, satisfied.

 

After splitting up the parts to research and setting another meeting date for next Tuesday, the two of them packed up their things and walked out of the library together. Minki felt lighter as he walked next to Dongho, happy that it felt like he had managed to get the other boy to warm up to him a little more. “Are you going home now? Jonghyun and I were gonna go grab something to eat at the diner, you can join us if you want.” He offered. Dongho shook his head.

 

“Ah, my friend said he was coming to pick me up today. He should be coming any time now.”

 

“Oh, well maybe next time then!” The two of them exchanged their goodbyes and headed off their separate ways. Minki looked back as he walked towards the benches near the school carpark and saw Dongho greeting someone on a motorcycle before climbing on behind the driver and speeding away.

 

It was only after a few minutes of waiting on the bench for Jonghyun that the events of the last hour or so fully sunk into Minki.

 

Kang Dongho had smiled. Had _laughed_ _._

 

And Minki found himself wanting to see _more_. To see the side of Dongho that the school didn’t know about. And maybe, he could make it up to Dongho for believing all those stupid rumours and letting it get in the way of what Minki believed could have been a wonderful friendship. From this moment on, Minki resolved to fully integrate Dongho into his school life and to make Dongho feel like he belonged.

 

Like he wasn’t an outsider anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, sorry for any typos! i hope you all enjoyed the baekren in this chapter!


	4. vienna coffee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so so so sorry for the long wait i didn't expect this chapter to take _that_ long to write :(
> 
> future updates might take even longer because i have exams coming up but hopefully i'll be able to put up another chapter soon!
> 
> also thank you all for the support i really love reading comments and seeing this fic getting some love it keeps me motivated ❤

Minki invited Dongho for lunch the very next day, much to the confusion of his friends. Seungcheol and Jeonghan had protested weakly, still somewhat wary of the other boy. Only Jonghyun hadn't opposed the idea.

 

Dongho had looked slightly surprised when Minki had asked run up to him upon seeing him enter the cafeteria and more or less allowed himself to get dragged over to the table where Minki and his friends sat.

 

Introductions were made and soon enough once initial small talk had been exhausted, a nervous kind of tension fell over them. Minki noticed that Dongho kept his eyes fixed in the table as he chewed his food. No one was really saying much because they had no idea what to say to the boy that the majority of the student population at Carmel more or less feared.

 

“So,” Jonghyun coughed. “Dongho, do you have any siblings?” Minki smiled weakly at his friend, grateful that someone had broken the near suffocating silence.

 

Dongho swallowed his food before answering. “Just an older brother. He was a few years older though, I don't think you would have known him.”

 

Silence once again.

 

This time, Seungcheol spoke up. “Do you play any video games?”

 

This sparked a little more interest in Dongho and soon Seungcheol, Jonghyun and Dongho launched into a discussion about the latest video game release. Jeonghan watched the trio converse with mild amusement on his face while Minki smiled, relieved that they were all getting along relatively well.

 

When they parted ways at the end of lunch, Jonghyun had extended an invitation to Dongho to join them on Saturday for video games and movies at his house. The latter had given a tiny smile and nod in response, promising to come.

 

Jeonghan and Seungcheol had warmed up a little more towards Dongho and, together with Minki, the four of them chattered as they made their way to last period biology. Dongho didn’t say much but he was smiling as he listened to Jeonghan reveal his latest scheme, one that revolved around matchmaking two poor freshmen in choir because apparently Jeonghan had caught them “making eyes” at each other and because he could “practically see them emanating waves of desperation” he wanted to be a “good senior” and help them out.

 

“The last time you meddled in other people’s lives, you made Daniel dye his hair pink and got him detention for a week for breaking dress code because of it. He cried over the phone when he called me saying it tarnished his transcript.” Minki pointed out.

 

“Yes, but. Seongwoo got jealous of all the adoring looks Daniel was getting from people and confessed to him in front of everyone at lunch and BAM. Dating. Look at them,” He pointed to the mentioned couple who were heatedly making out underneath one of the stairwells. “Happier than ever.”

 

Seungcheol whistled loudly at the duo and Seongwoo flipped them the finger, not bothering to pull away from Daniel. Minki shook his head. “There are _freshmen_ here!” He yelled over his shoulder as they passed by, noticing two scandalised looking youngsters scuttling away in the opposite direction.

 

“Anyways,” Jeonghan flipped his hair over his shoulder smugly. “I’d say I have a pretty good track record. Just watch and see.”

 

The conversation tapered off as they arrived at their biology class and as soon as Mr Han began his rapid-fire lesson, Minki didn’t get any more chances to further converse with Dongho. He _did_ notice, however, that the air between them seemed a little warmer. A little less awkward.

 

During a short reprieve, Minki glanced over at Dongho and saw that he was writing something once again. He realised that it was the same notebook that Dongho had flipped over when Minki had asked him what he was doing earlier in the week.

 

Knowing better than to poke his nose where it didn’t belong (again), Minki decided to sit quietly and daydream a little. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts he didn’t notice Dongho staring at him funny and only registered the other’s insistent little pokes when they became a little rougher.

 

“Mr Choi,” Minki straightened up as Mr Han glowered at him. “So nice of you to join us again. Would you like to repeat what I just said to the rest of the class?”

 

The rest of biology flew by slowly. Mr Han had decided to let Minki off the hook but kept picking on him to answer every other question he would pose to the class. Thankfully, Dongho would help him out by writing any answers Minki didn’t know onto a piece of paper and sliding it stealthily to him. It was honestly a miracle that Minki survived the rest of class without Mr Han’s wrath falling upon him.

 

“I owe you my life,” Minki said, sighing as the bell rang at the end of the lesson. Dongho shrugged.

 

“It’s nothing. The least you could do to repay me is by making sure Alejandro doesn’t die under your watch.” He said seriously, although his eyes looked amused.

 

Minki saluted. “No problem! I’ve been watering him every morning before school.” They walked out of the class together, leaving behind Seungcheol and Jeonghan who wanted to stay behind to ask Mr Han questions about the project.

 

They walked in comfortable silence for a bit until Minki asked, “Would you rather fight one gigantic horse or one hundred tiny horses?” Dongho looked slightly surprised at the sudden question but humoured him anyways.

 

“A hundred tiny horses. One kick from a gigantic horse could probably kill me.” Minki laughed and Dongho grinned back.

 

They continued asking questions back and forth as Minki waited for Jonghyun. The two of them ended up sitting at the steps near the parking lot, shoulder to shoulder. “Hey,” Dongho suddenly said, voice sounding nervous. Minki looked at him. “Thanks for uh, lunch.” He finished brusquely.

 

Smiling, Minki looked away. “I didn’t do anything. I just wanted to eat with my friends. Anyways, I believe I see Jonghyun coming over right now.” The mentioned boy was walking towards the two of them, waving happily.

 

“Dongho,” Jonghyun greeted, grinning. “We’ll see you tomorrow, right?” Dongho nodded.

 

“Yup,” He smiled back.

 

As they headed off into their separate directions, Dongho said he was going to walk home while Jonghyun and Minki made their way to Jonghyun’s car, Jonghyun murmured “It was really nice of you to invite him to lunch,”

 

“It’s not a big deal. I just wish I had done it a long time ago. He’s a really nice guy.”

 

 _It might be a big deal to him_. Jonghyun thought, thinking back to the times he had seen Dongho alone throughout high school. He also felt guilty for not being reaching out to other sooner but the rumours had also gotten to him at that point in time and he didn’t have Minki’s courage to approach him. As Jonghyun looked at Minki humming along to the radio in the car, he smiled to himself. He hoped that his best friend’s big heart could provide Dongho with the friendship he had missed out on.

 

____________________

 

“Aron-hyung isn’t in today?” Minki asked, as he slipped on his apron.

 

Minhyun had introduced Minki to another part-timer when he arrived, a Japanese exchange student at Pencey named Kenta with a friendly face and a little snaggletoothed smile which he flashed at Minki when they shook hands.

 

“He said he was meeting a friend today. He might show up later on before closing time.” Minhyun explained. Minki immediately took up his position at the cash register, greeting a customer cheerfully.

 

“Is uh, Jonghyun staying today?” Minhyun coughed. Minki glanced over to where Jonghyun was sitting by himself. His best friend was currently poring over his chemistry textbook, eyebrows furrowed as he concentrated hard on the text.

 

“Yeah, he’s my ride home tonight.” Minhyun didn’t say anything after this and Minki failed to notice the little blush that had crept onto the handsome boy’s cheeks. Kenta, however, _did_ notice and slid over to Minhyun’s side with mischievous eyes.

 

“We should make him something to drink while he’s here.” The Japanese boy said loudly, elbowing Minhyun in the side.

 

“That’s a great idea!” Minki said, taking another customer’s order. “Minhyun, could you make him a Vienna coffee please? He likes it with tons of whipped cream. Kenta, here’s the next order.” Minhyun’s face was flaming as he kept his eyes fixed on making Jonghyun’s drink. Minki glanced over and finally took note of Minhyun’s oddly constipated looking expression and red cheeks before finally making the connection. He grinned to himself and pretended to make himself as busy as possible with tidying up near one of the machines.

 

“It’s done,” Minhyun said in an almost robotic voice. Minki glanced over, still pretending to be very busy.

 

“Sorry, could you bring it to him?” Minki silently thanked Aron as he said this. Aron had a ‘no shouting orders’ rule as he claimed it disturbed his customers’ creative processes. Thankfully, the small crowd that patroned the store made it easy for Minki and the others to remember who ordered what so it was no hassle at all.

 

Upon hearing Minki’s request, Minhyun audibly swallowed. He blinked at Minki before picking up Jonghyun’s drink and carrying it to him. Kenta stood by Minki, watching this whole exchange. “You’re evil,” He whispered. Minki simply grinned.

 

The two of them watched as their colleague arrived at Jonghyun’s table. Jonghyun was so immersed in his readings that Minhyun had to cough a few times to get his attention. Minki watched as Jonghyun’s face lit up in a brilliant smile as Minhyun set down the drink in front of him. They exchanged some brief words before Minhyun turned back around, a slightly dazed look in his eyes.

 

Minki pretended not to notice as Minhyun threw furtive glances at Jonghyun for the rest of the shift. Minhyun even had ducked behind the counter when Jonghyun had brought back his empty mug. Kenta, who Minki had roped into participating in his little scheme, had suggested that Minhyun bring Jonghyun one of their little meat pies when dinnertime rolled around. By now, Minhyun had realised what his colleagues were up to and vehemently tried to protest but failed miserably.

 

Kenta had shoved a plate of the meat pie into Minhyun’s hands and Minki pushed him out from behind the counter. “Go,” They both hissed. They watched Minhyun’s little scene with Jonghyun, a scene highly similar to the one they had witnessed with the Vienna coffee earlier, and shook their heads disappointedly when Minhyun came back to them. “Your game is so _weak_ , Minhyun. No wonder you’ve been single all your life.” Kenta huffed as Minki laughed loudly at Minhyun’s tomato red face.

 

Considering it was a Friday night, the cafe was pretty empty and Minki was thankful to have a relaxed shift to end the week. The place only had a couple of regulars (Minhyun and Kenta pointed them out to him) and a few teenagers popped in to sign up for next week’s open mic. Sewoon and Jaehwan, the two guitarists he had met, were doing a joint performance next week. They excitedly told Minki to anticipate it. “It’s literally going to blow your mind.” Jaehwan said smugly.

 

Aron finally showed up during closing time, apologising for coming so late and thanking the three of them for working so hard today. He shooed them out the door with the leftover cakes packed in boxes, insisting once again that they take it home for a midnight snack or breakfast. Minki hugged Minhyun and Kenta goodbye while Jonghyun stood by his car smiling at the scene. Minhyun looked like he wanted to say something to Jonghyun but the latter had already started climbing into the driver’s seat. Kenta let out a laugh at Minhyun’s misfortune while Minki patted him on the shoulder consolingly.

 

____________________

 

“MINKI GET OFF MY ASS!” Seungcheol howled as Minki’s Kirby unleashed a series of combo attacks on his Greninja before it got punted offscreen by the little pink character.

 

It was Sunday afternoon and they were sitting in Jonghyun’s living room surrounded by various snacks and drinks that each of them had brought. To Minki’s joy, Dongho had shown up with a bag of snacks and sodas in hand. Jonghyun and the others welcomed Dongho warmly and made him pick their first game of the afternoon. Dongho had picked Super Smash and proceeded to get defeated spectacularly by Jonghyun. “Go easy on him!” Minki had yelled through a mouth of chips.

 

Now, Minki sat himself down next to Dongho after defeating Seungcheol for the third time in a row. Dongho passed him a soda, grinning as Seungcheol furiously announced that he was tired of this and wanted to play a different game.

 

“How about Mario Kart?” Jeonghan suggested, sprawled on the sofa. He wasn’t interested in fighting games and only ever joined in when they were playing racing games. Seungcheol huffed and sat down, grabbing the nearest bag of chips to him.

 

“You’re on.”

 

Jonghyun helped set up the controllers and offered one of them to Dongho. “Wanna join this one?” Minki nudged Dongho to take it and leaned back to watch the race unfold.

 

The race lasted another hour. Or rather the next few races took up the rest of the hour. Jeonghan had become extremely competitive after coming in last during the first race and proceeded to challenge the three of them again, insisting that he would win. Dongho, who had taken the coveted first place position, agreed to Jeonghan’s challenge and Jonghyun and Seungcheol joined as well. One rematch turned to several more and soon enough thoughts of other games flew out the window.

 

Minki wasn’t too big on racing games and was content with watching the other four shout obscenities at each other as they raced their characters around different tracks. He watched Dongho’s face look flushed from laughing and shouting and he felt his heart feel warm at seeing Dongho laughing and smiling so openly around them.

 

The difference between the Dongho in front of him now and the Dongho he had seen on the first day of senior year was striking and Minki couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness, wishing once again that he had been braver in the past and invited the boy to sit with them earlier.

 

Eventually the racing quartet tired themselves out and they all lay on the floor of the living room after Dongho managed to scrape the final win while Minki occupied the sofa by himself. Jonghyun offered for them to stay for dinner but Minki needed to be home by then and so did Dongho. Seungcheol and Jeonghan agreed to stay.

 

“Do you need guys need a ride home or…?”

 

“Nah, I’ll just walk back. Dongho, what about you? Is your place far?” Minki asked, turning to him. Dongho shook his head.

 

“I’m good. I’ll just walk with Minki.” He replied.

 

They all exchanged farewells and Jonghyun walked them out his door. “I’ll see you two tomorrow!” Jonghyun said, smiling.

 

Dongho’s house, as it turned out, was just a street away from Minki’s. Minki suggested that they stop by his own house so he could pass Alejandro to Dongho before he went home. “That way you don’t have to carry him around school tomorrow.” He said cheerfully.

 

They walked quietly for a bit, letting the cool evening breeze ruffle their hair. Minki huffed as one particularly strong breeze whipped his hair up, exposing his forehead comically. Dongho laughed as he watched the other frantically try to pat his hair back into place.

 

“I had fun today,” Dongho said, after Minki had calmed down from his little hair fiasco. Minki glanced at him, a small smile on his face. “It was nice of Jonghyun to invite me too. Is this like a weekly thing you guys do?”

 

Minki kicked at a pebble on the sidewalk. He watched it bounce along in front of them before rolling onto the road. “Yeah, it’s kind of a tradition we have.” He paused for a bit before continuing. “I’m glad you had fun. You should join us again next time if you want. It was good to have someone there to put Jeonghan in his place when he gets too riled up. He’s gotten immune to us now but since you’re new to the group he still listens to you.”

 

“The group,” Dongho echoed. Minki realised what he said and looked at him with a serious expression.

 

“You’re always welcome around us, I hope you don’t forget this.” Minki said, eyes sincere. Dongho looked at him with an unreadable expression. Before Dongho could say anything else, Minki suddenly changed the subject.

 

“Oh, we’re here.”

 

Minki had Dongho wait downstairs while he ran up to his room to fetch Alejandro. He grabbed the notebook where he had been taking note of Alejandro’s height every day and quickly pasted in a polaroid photo that he had taken that morning of Alejandro. Once he finished he closed the notebook, took his polaroid camera from his shelf, and tucked Alejandro in his arm as he balanced all the items.

 

“What’s all this?” Dongho asked, noting the camera and notebook Minki had placed in front of him.

 

“The notebook is a daily log for Alejandro’s growth and I figured that at the end of each week we could take a photo and show his growth progress up until the end of the project.” Minki explained as he packed the notebook and camera into a small paper bag for Dongho. “I expect my camera back in one piece next week.” He said solemnly as he held out the bag to the other boy.

 

Dongho smiled, taking the bag from Minki. “No problem.”

 

As Minki walked Dongho to his front door, the latter turned around. “Thank you.” He said softly. Minki blinked. “For everything.” And with a quick turn he was gone, closing the door and leaving Minki in mild surprise.

 

Outside, unbeknownst to Minki, Dongho smiled to himself as he made his way home.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i finished writing this at around 11pm and my eyes were dead tired so i apologise once again for any typos
> 
> also i'm not really a gamer so i don't know any other multiplayer games or had experience playing them except like tekken or like street fighter or the ones i know from nintendo so i couldn't really add any other games into that particular scene oops


	5. night over day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1000 hits!!! i was so stunned to see this after my two exams today it improved my mood by 1000% thank you all!!
> 
> i've got exams until next tuesday but i thought i'd give a little update to celebrate 1000 hits (also as an excuse to procrastinate a bit hehe)
> 
> hope you all enjoy this chapter! sorry if it's a little shorter than usual!

Following that Sunday, Dongho became a constant in Minki’s group of friends. Dongho had managed to charm them all with his childlike giggles and smiles and his surprisingly gentle and kind ways. Seungcheol and Jeonghan soon got over whatever misconceptions they had of the other boy and started roping Dongho into their little schemes while Jonghyun often looked on with mild disapproval.

 

Minki and Dongho also started talking and texting each other a lot more. Their little game of ‘Would You Rather?’ soon evolved into something a little more similar to ‘20 Questions’. This had happened after Minki had suggested playing ‘Truth or Dare’ during Monday’s lunchtime. Dongho had refused to play (“We’re in the _library_ , I don’t want that harpy looking librarian to kick us out.”) so Minki changed it.

 

“Winter or summer?” He asked. “You can only pick one.” (Dongho had picked summer but later admitted that he preferred autumn a lot more.)

 

And so it went on. While this little game had allowed the two to learn more about each other’s preferences, at times it just became a good way for them to pass time. It became a little inside joke to them. It became their _thing_.

 

Minki came to know all the little things about Dongho because of this game. That he preferred milk chocolate to dark chocolate. That he preferred long bus rides over long train rides. Dogs over cats. Night over day.

 

Dongho liked to write. Minki discovered this when he finally found the courage during biology class that Monday to ask him about what the little notebook he kept writing in was. Dongho had looked a little flustered at the question initially. “I, uh, like to write. It’s like a little journal, I guess.” He didn’t say anything more about it so Minki didn’t probe any deeper.

 

Even though they had become closer, Minki could sense at times that Dongho still had a wall put up around him. He never really gave many details about his personal life and gave very basic, simple answers if asked. Minki could respect that. He could tell Dongho valued privacy in certain areas of his life.

 

____________________

 

Minki's Monday shift at _unsigned_ had been an amusing one.

 

It amazed Minki to see the normally composed and regal looking Minhyun to suddenly become reduced to a blushing, mumbling mess upon seeing Jonghyun once again. The object of Minhyun’s not-so-secret affections seemed oblivious to Minhyun’s distress (read: panic) and behaved the way he normally did. “You’re so whipped,” Kenta had teased, showing up even though he didn’t have a shift on just to watch Minhyun flounder around Jonghyun.

 

Minhyun had profusely denied this. But when Wednesday’s Open Mic came around, Minhyun had sidled up to Minki, eyes not meeting his. “Is Jonghyun watching tonight?” He had asked as nonchalantly as possible. Naturally, Minki saw right through this but feigned ignorance and informed Minhyun that Jonghyun wasn’t able to come on Wednesdays. He pretended not to see the disappointment that flashed across Minhyun’s face briefly before the taller boy went back to collecting empty mugs from the tables.

 

True to their word, Sewoon and Jaehwan opened that week’s Open Mic with a bang. The two guitarists introduced their self-composed duet to the eager crowd, smiling at each other and at their audience. Minki watched and listened in rapture as the two boys sang, their voices filling the air and their guitars playing melodies that enchanted everyone in the cafe. The talent of those two boys and all the other performers astounded him and he didn’t doubt that they could all move on to performing in bigger venues and doing bigger things if they wanted to.

 

Halfway through the night, Minki popped into the storeroom to grab some more paper napkins and to plug his phone to charge. Dongho hadn’t been at school today because he had gotten sick and he had texted Minki throughout the day and during his shift. Minki made a mental note to visit Dongho after school the next day if he still hadn’t shown up to class.

 

“Does Dongho know? About Minki working here?” Minki stopped mid-push of the storeroom’s door at Minhyun’s voice. He could hear someone reciting a poem at the stage but he focused on Minhyun’s voice instead.

 

There was a sigh following this.

 

“No, he doesn’t.” Aron’s voice, Minki realised, sounded a little tired. “I don’t think it matters.”

 

“Of course it matters! This place is his only escape from school, hyung. You know that. It was a miracle that he didn’t notice Minki at last week’s Open Mic and that he couldn’t come tonight.” The frustration in Minhyun’s voice confused Minki but he kept listening, wanting to know more.

 

“I know. I know. Of course, I know. But what are the chances of Dongho and Minki knowing each other anyway? Carmel is a huge school. I bet you Dongho wouldn’t even recognise Minki.”

 

Silence once again. Finally, Minhyun let out a sigh.

 

“Fine. Okay. But here’s what we’ll do…” At this, Minki backed away from the door. His mind was reeling with this new revelation. Dongho knew Aron? And he had apparently been coming to this cafe long before Minki even started working here. But he didn’t want anyone from Carmel knowing? Why?

 

When Minki finally came out of the storeroom, Minhyun asked what took him so long and Minki had to lie and say that he had trouble finding the napkins.

 

Minki was out of it for the rest of his shift, wondering if he should tell Dongho. They were friends, right? It shouldn’t matter to him. But Minki thought back to how Dongho would deflect deeply personal questions and decided that he shouldn’t. An escape from Carmel? This place? It probably meant a lot more to Dongho than Minki could fathom at this point. He wasn’t sure where he stood in Dongho’s life but he didn’t want to jeopardize their newfound friendship over this.

 

On the bus ride home that evening, Minki finally made a decision. He would feign ignorance and play along with whatever scheme Minhyun and Aron had to keep him away from Dongho at the cafe.

 

____________________

 

“Is there something on my face?”

 

It was Thursday afternoon and Minki and Dongho were back in the library seated at the same table they had claimed the week before. Books and papers were strewn across the table. The two of them had decided to dedicate their Thursdays to studying and working on their biology projects together. Dongho hadn't completely recovered from his bout of flu but had gone to school anyways, not wanting to miss any lessons. Minki had been adamant about making Dongho rest at home once school ended but the latter insisted on staying back for their study session anyways.

 

Minki jerked a little at Dongho’s sudden question, his chin slipping off from where it had been resting on his clasped hands. Dongho was frowning at him slightly and Minki realised that he had been staring for too long.

 

Recovering from his slight shock, Minki shook his head and flashed Dongho a small smile. “Sorry, I guess I must have zoned out for a bit.” He said apologetically.

 

“I mean, we _have_ been at this for almost an hour now with no breaks,” Dongho gestured to the piles of notes and textbooks on the table and grinned. “Should we take a breather?” Minki nodded.

 

To be quite honest, Minki hadn’t really been paying attention to their study session. His mind was occupied with thoughts about what he had heard last night about Dongho from Aron and Minhyun’s conversation. It was because of these thoughts that he had ended up staring at Dongho for the majority of the hour.

 

Minki let out a heavy sigh and let his arms fall to his sides, dropping his head onto the table with a loud _thunk_. “It’s only the second week of senior year and I already feel like dropping out.” He groaned. Dongho let out a little chuckle at this.

 

“If you drop out now, how are we supposed to support Alejandro in the future?” The other boy teased. Minki looked up and saw Dongho’s gentle, teasing smile. “Even most minimum wage jobs require a high school diploma, at least. And I don’t think a music degree is gonna land me a job that pays enough to support a family of three.”

 

Minki raised an eyebrow. “First of all,” A small smile tugging at the corners of Minki’s mouth as he said this. “I’d work four jobs if I had to just to support our plant-son. And second, music? Is that what you want to do in college?” Dongho’s cheeks turned slightly pink and he looked down at the table, flustered.

 

This was _definitely_ a new side of Dongho that Minki hadn’t seen until now.

 

“Yeah, I want to study music.” He finally said. Minki noticed his hands were fidgeting with his pencil case.

 

“That’s really cool,” Minki said sincerely, smiling at him. “I didn’t know you were so into music! What instruments do you play?”

 

Dongho seemed to look a little less flustered now and gave Minki a tiny smile. “I play the piano. I sing a little too.” He admitted bashfully. “I’m more interested in composing music though.”

 

“Composers are honestly the unsung heroes of the music industry,” Minki said thoughtfully. “We get so caught up in all the flashy singers that we forget about the people who work behind the scenes.” Dongho nodded at this, eyes bright.

 

“Exactly!” Their conversation flowed comfortably after this. Minki found it fascinating. Dongho looked excited to be talking about something he loved and Minki decided that he liked seeing Dongho like this. He loved seeing people talk about things they were truly passionate about.

 

“So,” Minki said, leaning forward. “I’m assuming that you’ve probably written some songs of your own. Being an aspiring composer and everything.” Dongho looked flustered once again and Minki grinned.

 

“Ah, so you have!” He said excitedly.

 

“It’s nothing great,” Dongho murmured, now tapping a pen against the table. “My lyrics probably suck too, I mean I’m not that great at expressing myself.”

 

Minki tilted his head slightly, smiling softly at him. “Well, you should let other people listen to your songs before you make any judgements for yourself.” He swallowed as Dongho’s eyes met his. There was something undecipherable in the other’s gaze that momentarily threw Minki off guard. He wasn’t quite sure what it was but Minki couldn’t ignore the way his heart suddenly started beating just a little bit faster.

 

“Um, yeah you know you don’t have to show me now I mean you- Whenever you wanna make me listen to your stuff just, uh I’m all ears!” He blurted out, face feeling extremely warm for some reason.

 

Dongho blinked at him and Minki found himself looking away. He missed the fond smile that had slipped onto the other boy’s face.

 

They spent the rest of their time in the library in silence. The only audible sounds made were the occasional rustling of papers whenever one of them flipped through their notebook or textbook and the faint sound of pen-tips scribbling hastily against paper.

 

It was comfortable. _Minki_ was comfortable.


	6. strawberries

The moments when Dongho would visit  _unsigned_ soon became apparent to Minki. He figured it out about a week after his little eavesdropping experience.

 

Dongho would show up at around 5:30 in the afternoon right in the middle of Minki’s shift. He usually dropped by on Fridays and Wednesdays. Minki never actually saw Dongho enter the cafe (all thanks to Minhyun sending him on a wild goose chase for a non-existent item in the storeroom whenever 5:25 came around) but he  _did_ hear his familiar laugh fill the air at some point.

 

The first time this happened, Minhyun had suddenly asked Minki to find a spare apron that Aron had apparently left behind in one of the many boxes in the storeroom. Minki had been perplexed by this request, mostly because there was no need for the extra apron, but shrugged and spent a good twenty minutes inside the storeroom before Minhyun came in and apologetically told him that Aron remembered that he had left the supposed apron at home.

 

Minhyun had been less discreet after that, probably because he started running out of fake things for Minki to look for, and Minki found himself realising that these random little scavenger hunts always occurred around the same time.

 

Aron, for his part, would always swing by a couple of minutes after Dongho’s arrival. He would make two americanos before whisking them away to the table in the corner furthest away from the counter and completely out of sight.

 

“Whose is that?” Minki asked once, feigning ignorance as he pointed to the second americano in Aron’s hands. Aron had given him a smile and said simply, “A friend,”

 

The plan was foolproof. It was perfect. Minki never saw Dongho come in or out. Minhyun and Aron played him like a flute.

 

Well, it  _would_ have been foolproof if Minki hadn’t known about it from the start.

 

All this pretending was taking its toll on Minki if he had to be very honest. Every time he looked at Dongho he was immediately overcome with a rush of guilt. Knowing Dongho’s little secret and having to lie to his face about it (and to his colleagues) ate at Minki on the inside.

 

To make things worse, Seungcheol pointed out that Dongho and Minki had become attached at the hip.

 

There was no other way to say it. They walked to every class together, sat together in every class they shared, and texted constantly when they were apart. It became routine. Something as familiar and effortless as eating or breathing.

 

Dongho had found a place for himself in Minki’s little life.

 

And while it thrilled Minki deep down, it also left him feeling confused.

 

____________________

 

The day of their first presentation for biology finally arrived. Minki tapped his fingers repeatedly against the tabletop, feeling slightly nervous about the whole thing. He just wanted to get this over with. Next to him, Dongho was flipping through their presentation notes. His face looked calm but he was shaking his left leg, something that Minki had learned to read as a sign of Dongho’s unease.

 

Minki tried his best to focus on the team that was presenting. The presentation slides on the projector screen made his head hurt with its horribly matched colour scheme and did nothing to soothe his frazzled mind. Dongho must have sensed his distress and nudged Minki lightly.

 

A piece of paper was tucked between Dongho’s fingers and Minki took it from him. He grinned as he read the words scribbled in familiar handwriting.

 

_pineapples on pizza or strawberries on pizza?_

 

Dongho’s attempt to distract Minki from his nerves worked because Minki shot Dongho a disgusted look after reading what was written. The other boy just gave him a cheeky grin before turning to look at the front of the room. After scribbling down an answer, Minki folded the paper and tucked it under Dongho’s elbow and poked him discreetly.

 

“Choi Minki and Kang Dongho. You’re up,” Mr Han said loudly, unknowingly interrupting the little note-passing session. Dongho smiled good-naturedly and tucked the paper into his pocket.

 

Their presentation went by without a hitch. Minki started off the presentation with a riveting introduction (Dongho had initially argued against starting off too flamboyantly but grew tired and let Minki do as he pleased) and Dongho followed up seamlessly. Mr Han looked impressed and praised their hard work and attention to detail in their slides. “You boys make an excellent team. I’m looking forward to seeing your final presentation and the results of the plant project.”

The look that Dongho gave Minki took his breath away. His entire face glowed with happiness as he grinned at Minki and raised his hand for a high five. In a daze, Minki dumbly reciprocated.

 

He tried to ignore the way his heart fluttered as his hand hit Dongho’s lightly.

 

When they sat back at their table, Dongho grinned widely at him. “You did great,” He said sincerely.

 

Minki smiled back at him. “Thanks. You didn’t do so bad yourself.”

 

“Not so bad? That’s all you have to say?” Dongho asked teasingly, raising an eyebrow. Minki swallowed, suddenly finding it ridiculously absurd that Dongho managed to look both hot and cute doing that little action.

 

“You were superb,” He managed to choke out. Dongho laughed lightly, the sound making Minki’s heart flutter once again.

 

_What the hell?_

 

____________________

 

“Hey, did you guys realise that Dongho is actually kind of hot?”

 

Upon hearing Jeonghan’s words, Minki spluttered and choked on the mouthful of chips he had just stuffed into his mouth. Jonghyun frowned and wiped away the crumbs that had sprayed out of Minki’s mouth and onto the floor.

 

It was Thursday afternoon and they were hanging out at Jonghyun’s once again, sans Dongho who was meeting up with a friend somewhere else. He had looked all flustered and apologetic as he told Minki he wasn’t going to be able to join them all and frankly it was the most endearing thing Minki had ever seen.

 

Not that he’d ever say that out loud.

 

Jeonghan, thankfully, was too preoccupied with trying to overtake Seungcheol’s character in Mario Kart and didn’t see Minki’s reaction. “Like, I never noticed it before but damn. The boy can like, _get it_.”

 

“The only thing you’re gonna get,” Seungcheol said, eyes fixed on the TV screen. “Is your ass handed to you again.” True enough, Jeonghan’s indignant cries of “I was distracted!” and Seungcheol’s laughter filled the room a few minutes later.

 

“No, but for real,” Jeonghan started again, after lightly kicking over a still laughing Seungcheol with a socked foot. “I would totally climb him like a tree.”

 

Minki cleared his throat, finally composing himself after his (literal) outburst. “First of all, you’re disgusting and you’re both minors so that’s kind of illegal. Second of all, he might not even _be_ into dudes.” At this last point, Jeonghan scoffed dismissively.

 

“Um, dude have you seen the way he looks at-”

 

Jonghyun, who had been walking back from the kitchen to refill the chip bowl, suddenly stumbled over nothing and proceeded to dump the contents of the refilled chip bowl onto Jeonghan’s head.

 

Jeonghan’s irritated shouting and Jonghyun’s bashful and apologetic laugh made Minki and Seungcheol howl with laughter. It provided the perfect distraction and soon enough the topic of Dongho’s sexuality was forgotten.

 

Halfway through watching Jonghyun’s Charizard pummel Seungcheol’s Villager into oblivion on Super Smash, Minki’s phone buzzed.

 

**_From: tiger (6:09pm)_ **

_hey, you home?_

 

Minki smiled a little and typed back a reply.

 

**_To: tiger (6:10pm)_ **

_still at jonghyuns. why?_

 

**_From: tiger (6:10pm)_ **

_never mind, i’ll see you tomorrow :)_

 

Frowning, Minki tucked his phone back into his pocket. _What was that about?_ He wondered.

 

After having dinner at Jonghyun’s, Minki walked home alone. It was windy that evening and Minki walked quickly, wanting to get out of the wind which whipped at his hair the whole way home.

 

As he kicked at a stray pebble on the sidewalk, he suddenly recalled Jeonghan’s outburst.

 

_“Have you seen the way he looks at…”_

 

Mentally, he cursed at Jonghyun’s two left feet for interrupting Jeonghan. Who was Jeonghan talking about? It’s not like he could ask. Jeonghan would give him hell for it and never shut up. He sighed and kicked at another pebble, watching it bounce and roll into the drain.

 

So maybe Minki  _had_ started feeling some very  _not_ platonic feelings towards his new friend. But he couldn’t help it.  Dongho was smart, funny, kind, patient. It didn’t hurt that he was good-looking too. The boyish charm he exuded whenever he laughed or smiled drew a striking contrast to his otherwise manly and rugged appearance and Minki found it fascinating. And extremely cute.

 

“Argh!” Minki yelled in frustration, aiming a kick at another pebble. He missed this time and ended up kicking a fire hydrant instead. He swore under his breath and vowed to never kick at rocks again.

 

By the time he reached his house, Minki was in a rather unhappy mood. His thoughts were all muddled and the pain in his toe was growing by the minute. As he took some ice for his poor toes from the freezer, he noticed a small box on the kitchen counter with his name written on it in familiar handwriting.

 

“Mom? Where’d this come from?” He asked, carrying the box into the dining room. His mother, who had been typing away at her laptop, looked up and smiled when she saw him.

 

“A friend of yours dropped it off! He said something about his mother making too many. It’s so sweet of him to share it with you.” She said happily, watching as Minki opened to box.

 

It was a dessert pizza. A strawberry dessert pizza. It looked slightly soft, probably from being left out of the fridge for a bit, but it looked delicious. Minki dipped a pinky in the cream and tasted it, letting the sweetness spread out over his taste buds.

 

“Is he a new friend of yours?” His mother asked curiously. “I don’t think I’ve ever been introduced.”

 

“Yeah, we’re bio partners,” Minki replied, half-paying attention. He had spotted a piece of paper taped to the inside of the box. He took it carefully and shoved it into his pocket.

 

After putting the box back in the fridge, Minki hurried up the stairs to his bedroom. He sat on the edge of his bed and unfolded the piece of paper.

 

It was his reply to Dongho’s question about pineapples and strawberries from earlier that day. He snorted as he read his own scribbled handwriting.

 

 _strawberries. but on dessert pizzas only. fruits have no_  _place_ _on savoury pizzas._

 

Underneath that, however, was a line written in what was unmistakably Dongho’s handwriting.

 

_good to know we’re on the same page :) anyways, thought you would like this pizza. consider this as a well done and a thank you for putting up with me so far this semester. see you tomorrow!_

 

Minki swallowed the lump in his throat and held the paper tightly. His heart was fluttering once again and he leaned back, letting himself fall onto his bed.

  
_I’m so fucked._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> words aren't enough to describe how sorry i am for the long wait i'm so so so so sorry for making you all wait so long! i didn't expect to get so busy after exams ended and recent events also left me feeling incredibly overwhelmed i needed some time to process it all on top of my hectic schedule
> 
> i wish you all a happy holidays and a happy new year in advance! i probably won't be able to update until the new year :( i hope you all stay safe, i hope you all take care of yourselves, and i'll be back again in january with another update!
> 
> thank you all once again for sticking with this fic!! 
> 
> hit me up on twitter [(@taemintys)](https://twitter.com/taemintys) if you wanna yell at me to update (just kidding) or if you just wanna yell about your faves or something ❤


	7. some serious balls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so so so sorry for the long wait :( 
> 
> i didn't forget about this fic!! i just had a hard time recalibrating which way i should take the story and everytime i wrote the chapter it just didn't feel right until now
> 
> i hope you all enjoy this update and i'm so so sorry again!! hopefully the next chapter won't take too long !!

Minki was never good at handling romantic feelings. Not that he had categorised whatever it was that he was feeling for Dongho as exactly that. But it was scarily close.

 

Guys and girls had confessed to Minki before. It wasn't an unfamiliar situation. But Minki had never really returned any of their feelings before and had turned down each one. Most of them reacted graciously, accepting his feelings and remaining on friendly terms. Others reacted badly, calling him a flirt and other horrible names. It only added to his frivolous image. He eventually learned to ignore them. No point wasting time trying to change their minds.

 

But this, whatever _ this _ was, was new to Minki. There was no confession yet (Minki was thinking positively about this situation) but Minki found a tiny part of himself  _ hoping _ for one. For the first time in a long time, Minki found himself wanting someone. 

 

And it terrified him.

 

What if Dongho didn't feel the same way? What if Minki was just looking into this too deeply? What if the pizza really was just a friendly gesture, nothing more?

 

_ But what if it  _ **_was_ ** _ something? _

 

Hounded by these thoughts, Minki decided the moment he stepped into the school grounds that he would avoid Dongho the entire day. He only had his last period with the other boy today so avoiding him for the rest of the day until then would be a piece of cake.

 

Looking back, Minki wished he hadn’t been so confident about this.

 

In his attempt to disappear from Dongho’s sight, Minki had scurried off to the music room to lurk with the choir kids for the duration of lunch. Most of the kids in the music weren’t actually in choir. They were usually just friends of the real choir kids. Mr Lee, one of the music teachers and the choir’s conductor, never really minded the extra chatter.

 

“Well, well, well.” Mr Lee grinned at the sight of Minki sneaking into the music room. “Decided to join the choir after all these years, Mr Choi?” 

 

“Figured you all could use my voice after last assembly’s fiasco,” Minki joked. Mr Lee laughed good-naturedly and patted Minki on the shoulder.

 

“The invitation still stands,” He said kindly. “It’d be a waste not to make use of that lovely voice.” Minki gave a non-committal shrug and a small smile in response. “Alright! Sopranos and altos, we’ll go through the harmonies first. Boys, you guys can have your lunch first.” Mr Lee called out as he walked towards the piano. 

 

As the boys and girls split off into their groups, Minki spotted Jeonghan sitting near the drums with an arm slung around the shoulder of what looked like one of the freshman boys. His friend was leaning close and whispering something into the poor freshman’s ear, and judging from the slightly mischievous glint in Jeonghan’s eyes, clearly up to no good.

 

“Please tell me you aren’t trying to rope this poor kid in another one of your schemes,” Minki said as he settled down in front of them. Jeonghan scoffed and clutched at his heart in mock pain.

 

“I’m so hurt that you’d think so badly of me, Minki. I thought we were friends.” The long-haired boy said sorrowfully. The freshman laughed and gave Minki a friendly smile.

 

“Actually, I’m the one who asked him for help,” He said, grinning. Jeonghan nodded, crossing his arms over his chest.

 

“You see? I’m just trying to be a good senior to Seungkwannie.” The boy, Seungkwan, grimaced at the nickname.

 

“Hyung, I told you not to call me that!”

 

Ignoring their squabbling, Minki pulled out his lunch and started poking around at the meatballs and pasta. He felt a bit guilty for abandoning the others but Dongho had Jonghyun and Seungcheol to talk to. 

 

Minki stabbed into the meatball a little harder than necessary, causing Jeonghan to stare at him. “What’s up your ass today? You’ve been brooding through all our classes.” He demanded. Minki ignored him and stuffed the meatball in his mouth. “Why  _ are _ you here? You never come to visit the choir kids and notice how I said choir kids and not me.”

 

_ Dammit _ . Jeonghan was a little too perceptive for his own good sometimes. Minki swallowed first before tossing his fork into his lunch box and sighing tiredly. He didn’t want to tell anyone yet. And if anything, Jeonghan would probably get a little too excited about Minki’s little (repeat: little) thing for Dongho and most likely try to play cupid. Jeonghan had a heart of gold but was as devious as a supervillain. It was a terrifying combination that often confused the people he met. 

 

“Jonghyun wanted me to ask you if you would consider taking Seongwoo’s place in the homecoming planning committee.” Minki lied. This, technically, was a half-lie. It was true that Jonghyun  _ was  _ looking for another person to join the committee but he didn’t mention anything about asking Jeonghan in particular. 

 

Jeonghan looked surprised. “What happened to Seongwoo? I thought he was in charge of the whole thing?” Minki rolled his eyes.

 

“Yeah, he was. Until the janitor caught him hiding bottles of vodka in one of the supply closets. Principal Kwon suspended him from all extracurriculars and put him in charge of carpark duty until the end of the semester.”

 

Looking mildly impressed, Jeonghan shrugged. “I mean, you have to hand it to the guy. He’s got some serious balls.” 

 

“Which closet is this?” Seungkwan piped up. Minki and Jeonghan shot him a look. “I’m kidding! My parents would kill me if they ever heard I was drinking in school.” He said, raising his hands in surrender.

 

Jeonghan patted him proudly on the knee before turning to Minki again. “Tell Jonghyun I’m flattered but I don’t have any plans to go to homecoming. Cheol and I were just gonna drive over to the next city and try sneak into one of the bars.”

 

“How is Jonghyun friends with you deviants?” Seungkwan butted in, disbelief and mild awe written all over his face. “I mean, you’d think that the school president would discourage his own friends from breaking rules an-”

 

Minki and Jeonghan looked at each other before bursting into laughter. “Oh, Kwannie,” Jeonghan simpered, shaking his head. “Jonghyun used to try. But I don’t know, I guess he just respects that we do things the way we do and he does things the way he wants.”

 

“Yeah,” Minki said. “I mean, we don’t pull these kinds of stunts all the time. It’s just once in a while. Jonghyun always checks to make sure we aren’t doing anything  _ too _ out of line. And we never force him to join us when he doesn’t want to. What kind of assholes would we be?”

 

“Anyways as long as we don’t murder anyone or start doing cocaine, we’re good. Besides, we’ve all known each other since we were kids. Jonghyun was never really one to judge people. He treated everyone kindly no matter what kind of person they were.” Jeonghan said fondly. 

 

Seungkwan listened with wide eyes. “You guys are really lucky to have a friend like him.”

 

“Yeah,” Minki said with a smile. “We really are.”

 

Mr Lee’s voice cut their conversation short as he called for the tenors and bass to come to the piano to rehearse their sections. Minki moved over to occupy the place where Jeonghan and Seungkwan had been sitting and settled against the drums comfortably. As he ate his lunch, he watched and listened to the other boys practicing their harmonies. 

 

Seungkwan had solo part in the song they were rehearsing for one of the upcoming assemblies and the moment he opened his mouth, Minki couldn’t help but gape at him. For someone so young his voice sounded like he had been singing for years. Every note was polished and he played with the melody effortlessly. When Seungkwan ended his solo on, quite literally, the most breathtaking high note Minki had ever heard he couldn’t help but clap automatically, earning him many stares and Seungkwan’s pleased but slightly embarrassed expression.

 

“Okay, great job boys! We’ll take a break before we run through it with everyone.” Mr Lee announced, dismissing the boys with a wave. While Seungkwan disappeared somewhere with the other freshman, Jeonghan made some motions, miming and mouthing words asking Minki if he wanted to grab a drink from the cafeteria but Minki shook his head. He couldn’t risk running into Dongho there. 

 

“Oh my gosh, look! It’s Dongho,” A girl’s voice from somewhere to the left of Minki said in hushed tones. Nearly giving himself whiplash, Minki looked up and saw Dongho talking to Mr Lee by the piano. Thankfully, he hadn’t seen Minki yet but Minki decided to scoot behind one of the larger drums just in case. 

 

“Did you know he plays the guitar and sings? I was waiting outside Mr Lee’s office the other day to ask if he could give me an extension on our assignment and I heard him going over a song with Dongho.” One of the other girls said. Minki glanced over and noticed the girl’s friends all looking over at Dongho with interest. It made something twist in his gut and he felt the urge to say something, anything but he kept his mouth shut tight.

 

“He’s actually really cute,” Another girl gushed. “Do you think he’s taking anyone to homecoming?”

 

Someone scoffed. “Please, the guy is a total loner. I doubt he’d even go…”

 

Minki forced himself to tune out of the conversation. The longer he listened, the stronger the urge to scream at them to take their claws off Dongho became. He really didn't need that kind of attention on him now. Not when Dongho was standing just a few feet away.

 

He couldn't help but watch the way Dongho's eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he listened intently to whatever it was that Mr Lee was telling him. The way he smiled a little as he spoke and the bright, intelligent look in his eyes as he showed the music teacher the contents of his notebook. Minki recognised it as Dongho's composition notebook, the one he would always write in whenever they were taking study breaks.

 

He couldn't help but wish he'd be able to see what was inside it too. 

 

"What are you looking at?" Jeonghan's voice interrupted Minki from his daydreaming and ogling, earning the long-haired boy a frown from Minki. Thankfully, Dongho was on his way out and he forced himself to look away from the other boy’s retreating figure.

 

"I've decided to skip last period today," He announced, ignoring Jeonghan's question. "Do you wanna come?"

 

Jeonghan gave him a look, one that Minki knew well. He could tell that the other boy had questions, most likely about why Minki was acting so strangely. But he knew Jeonghan wouldn't really press on it unless he knew  Minki was ready. It was something Minki really admired him for.

 

Giving him a shrug, Jeonghan took a sip from his soda before saying, "Alright. It's not like I was gonna pay attention in history class anyways."

 

Nearly half an hour later, Minki and Jeonghan were sitting in the park a couple of blocks away from school.  A brown paper bag was sitting under some take-out from one of the diners like a makeshift placemat. Jeonghan was the only one eating, inhaling the fries as if he’d been starving for days. Minki was content enough with just sitting on the bench and staring up at the sky above them.

 

"It's been a while since we've done this," Jeonghan commented, dipping some fries in the ketchup pile he had poured out onto a corner of the paper bag. Minki let out a sigh.

 

"Yeah," He said, still staring upwards. The sky was gray and getting darker by the second. Thunder had been rumbling in the distance since they skipped out of school. Usually Minki would have run back indoors as fast as possible at the sight of rain clouds but today, Minki felt like he couldn't care less. 

 

Jeonghan hummed quietly, finishing off the rest of the fries before tidying up the mess he had made. "Dongho was looking for you," He said as he rummaged through his bag for some tissues. Minki stiffened. "He saw me on my way to the cafeteria and asked if I was with you. I told him no, of course, but I didn't think he'd be heading to the music room," Jeonghan shrugged, after finding what he was looking for. Then, he turned to face Minki. "I hope you figure out whatever it is that's making you act like this, Min. Dongho's a good guy, he doesn't deserve this kind of treatment."

 

Minki hated that Jeonghan was right. He had received a text earlier from Dongho, who was asking worriedly about why he wasn’t class. Minki hadn’t answered yet but his phone felt incredibly heavy as it sat in his pocket. 

 

Sighing, Minki kicked at dry leaf next to his foot. “I just need some time to think,” He said evasively. Jeonghan nodded slightly before looking up at the sky too. They sat quietly like that for a while, letting the cool breeze brush by them and watching the clouds floating lazily above them.

 

“Thanks, Hannie,” Minki mumbled, glancing over at his friend. Jeonghan looked over and gave him a small smile.

 

“Could we mope a little less the next time we decided to cut class.” He joked. Minki managed to let out a laugh at that one.

 

“Deal.”

 

Jeonghan laughed and Minki felt the weight on his chest lighten a little. “Hey, did you hear about…”

 

They sat like that for the next half hour or so. Minki felt more relaxed than he had ever been the whole day and felt grateful for Jeonghan’s friendship. They didn’t often have moments like this. Usually, Minki would confide in or seek out Jonghyun when he needed cheering up. But at this moment, Minki was glad to have Jeonghan around.

 

Their little gossip session got cut short by the sudden downpour of rain and the two of them fled to the nearest bus stop, shrieking and laughing madly. As he caught his breath, Minki checked the time on his watch. “Shit, I gotta go,” He said apologetically, squeezing the ends of his shirt in an attempt to make himself look less like a drowned cat. “I almost forgot I had a shift today,” 

 

Jeonghan, who was squeezing water out of his hair, nodded. “It’s cool, I gotta go meet Cheol now anyways. I’ll see you tomorrow at Jonghyun’s?” Minki nodded and waved as Jeonghan took off his already wet jacket and used it to cover his head as he sprinted back towards the direction of the school.

 

When the bus taking him to the other side of town arrived, Minki felt his phone buzz again. He checked the message as he sat down and felt a lump form in his throat.

 

**_From: tiger (3:46pm)_ **

_ i took some notes for you so you can catch up  _

_ i can drop them off tomorrow? or later? _

 

**_To: tiger (3:48pm)_ **

_ tomorrow is okay :) thx _

 

**_To: tiger (3:50pm)_ **

_ sorry for ditching u today _

_ didnt feel like going 2 last period _

 

**_From: tiger (3:51pm)_ **

_ don’t worry about it  _

_ we all have those days :) _

_ see u tomorrow! _

 

A mixture of relief and guilt washed over Minki as he read through Dongho’s last messages to him. On one hand, he felt relieved that Dongho did not seem too annoyed or caught onto the fact that Minki had been avoiding him on purpose. On the other hand, Dongho’s thoughtfulness made Minki feel awful about the whole day. 

 

Letting out a sigh, Minki slumped back against the bus seat. He’d make it up to Dongho, he promised silently. 

 

____________________

 

Skipping school, running in the rain and working a shift in half-wet clothes was probably not one of Minki’s best ideas.

 

Karma, it seemed, had come to bite him in the butt for being a dick and avoiding his problems by giving Minki  _ more _ problems and forcing him to stay in bed to think about his pre-existing problems.

 

Minki glared grumpily at his ceiling, wishing that his throat would stop itching and for his nose to stop dribbling disgustingly. His head was also throbbing with a migraine so intense it felt like someone was drilling into his head from every angle.

 

Dongho had texted him that morning to ask what time he should bring the notes over and Minki had sent back a picture of himself in bed, sick and dying. The other boy had panicked, asking if he could do anything to help but Minki reassured him that he would be okay by Monday and that he would just get the notes then.

 

Aron had also checked up on him, mostly because Minki had only woken up two hours after his shift was supposed to start, and reassured him that Kenta would take over his shift instead. 

 

“Anyways, we still don’t have anyone to take up Seongwoo’s position in the homecoming committee, ” Jonghyun said, chattering on as he sat in Minki’s computer chair. Jonghyun, bless him, had dropped by the moment Minki texted him to say he wasn’t gonna be able to come over for games night. He came armed with tissue boxes and gossip from the last student council meeting.

 

Minki blew his nose noisily before tossing the tissue into the bin right next to his bed. “What about Daniel?”

 

“Nah, he’s already busy with football practice,” Jonghyun said, shaking his head. “I’ll just have to keep looking. If worse comes to worse, I might have to take over…” He trailed off uncertainly.

 

They were quiet for a bit. Then, Jonghyun spoke up.

 

“Why are you avoiding Dongho?” Welp. Minki sniffled and fought the urge to duck his head under his blankets.

 

“I… I needed time to think,” He mumbled. He could feel Jonghyun’s gaze on him and he forced himself to look at his best friend. “Okay, so I may or may not have had an epiphany of sorts.”

 

Jonghyun raised an eyebrow. “An epiphany regarding…?”

 

“Dongho,” Minki said, feeling his face warming up from embarrassment (or was it his fever?). “I realised that he’s kinda hot. And cute. And smart. And he does nice things for me even when I don’t deserve it. Also, I don’t like hearing other people talk about him like they want to eat him up or whatever.” He grimaced thinking back to those girls in the music room who tittered about Dongho.

 

“Is that it?” Jonghyun said, leaning forward now. His eyes were alight with interest and excitement.

 

Minki groaned and threw an arm across his face. “Butterflies, Jonghyun. Butterflies.” He said seriously with his eyes squeezed shut. He nearly threw the tissue box at Jonghyun when he heard his best friend’s laughter filling the room. “Don’t laugh, asshole.” He grumbled, shooting him a glare.

 

“Choi Minki has fallen in love,” Jonghyun teased.

 

“It’s not love! It’s…” Minki paused, thinking about what to label these new feelings. “Intense admiration.”

 

“Intense admiration,” Jonghyun repeated. Minki simply stared at him “Alright, call it whatever you want.” He shrugged, raising his hands in surrender. “What are you planning on doing?”

 

“Doing? I’m not planning on doing anything about this.” Minki said firmly. It was true. He had no intentions of pursuing anything other than friendship with Dongho. He was too scared of getting rejected and losing Dongho as a friend to do anything. He’d much rather play this one safe.

 

“Minki…” Jonghyun said, giving him a look. Minki hated that look. It meant that Jonghyun was about to start lecturing Minki on something Minki already knew but didn’t want to face yet. Minki shook his head stubbornly.

 

“No. Jonghyun, no. I’ve made up my mind already.” He said, frowning. His headache was getting worse by the second. “Besides, he probably doesn’t even swing my way. And I’m pretty sure he only thinks of me as a friend.”

  
  


“I want to tell you that you’re wrong bu-” Jonghyun started. 

 

“Jonghyun, please.” Minki paused to blow his nose again. “Can we talk about this another day? I promise we’ll talk about this. I just don’t want to think a lot right now.” Jonghyun looked a little disappointed but let the subject drop. For now, anyway. Minki could tell Jonghyun had a lot to say but he wasn’t ready to deal with whatever it was just yet.

 

“Fine,” Jonghyun relented. “Anyways, I’m gonna leave soon but Hannie and Cheol said they wanted to drop by later.”

 

“Tell them not to,” Minki groaned. “I’m just sick, not on my deathbed. Besides, they never visited me when I broke my leg that one time in middle school.”

 

“That’s because your mom was getting ready to flay them for talking you into climbing up that old tree,” Jonghyun reminded patiently. He stood up and picked up his bag before walking over to Minki’s bedside. “Take your medicine and sleep. Your mom’s been texting me to remind you, which she wouldn’t have to do if you’d just listen to her.” He added as soon as Minki opened his mouth to argue. 

 

Minki rolled his eyes but nodded grudgingly. “Yeah, yeah alright.” Jonghyun, frustratingly, stood by Minki’s door with his arms folded until Minki took his medicine. 

 

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Jonghyun said quietly, noting the way Minki had started to doze off. Minki blinked at him blearily before yawning. He gave Jonghyun a small wave as he left before letting his drowsiness take over.

 

He couldn’t really remember what he was dreaming of. Fever dreams were always like that for him. But when he finally woke up sometime later, he was surprised to see that he wasn’t alone. Minki pushed himself to sit up in his bed, cheeks flaming hot for some reason. He blinked at the figure sitting in the seat that Jonghyun had occupied earlier that day.

 

“Dongho?”

 


	8. shut up, shakespeare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhh please don't hate me for making you all wait for so long after that last cliffhanger :( i was working on the bnm4 au and work got busy plus i had an exam so this sort of got sidelined for a bit but i'm back now!! and hopefully updates will be smoother!!
> 
> hope you enjoy this chapter!

“Dongho?”

 

The boy in question was rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly and gave Minki a tiny smile. 

 

“I swear I just got here, I wasn’t watching you sleep or anything.” He said raising his hands in front of him slightly. Minki didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

 

He let out a weak laugh before coughing a bit. Dongho looked at him with concern, clearly about to leap to his feet but Minki waved him down. “It’s fine, I’m fine.” He smiled. Dongho didn’t look completely reassured but he noticeably relaxed.

 

“I thought it’d be better if I brought you my notes now.” He said, digging out a notebook from his bag and placing it on Minki’s desk. “Wasn’t sure if you’d be up to study them now but hey, at least they’re there if you need them.”

 

Minki looked at him with fondness swelling up inside his chest. “Thanks. You didn’t have to…” He said, swallowing the lump in his throat. The smile that Dongho sent his way would have made Minki weak if he wasn’t already feeling so frail from being sick.

 

“It’s nothing,” Dongho’s tone was casual but Minki could see the tips of his ears turning a faint pink.

 

They stared at each other for a while. Minki didn’t know what to say and Dongho clearly didn’t either. 

 

“I should probably g-”

 

“No, stay.”

 

The words tumbled out of Minki’s mouth, surprising him. Dongho had already started moving to get up from his seat but froze at Minki’s words. His expression was unreadable as he slowly sat down again. Minki felt his heart beating frantically against his chest and he fought the urge to screech loudly out of embarrassment.

 

“Okay,” Dongho said quietly, giving him a small smile. He settled back down on the stool and dropped his bag back on the floor. “What do you want to do?” 

 

“Uh,” Minki racked his brain to think of something. He glanced around his room before he spotted the projector he had gotten for Christmas last year from his parents. “I’ve got a projector, we could watch something?” He pointed to the little box tucked away on his bottom bookshelf. 

 

Minki tried pushing himself up out of bed to get the projector but Dongho beat him to it. “I can set this up, you don’t need to worry,” He grinned. Minki watched and instructed Dongho on how to connect his computer up to the projector from his bed. 

 

“We can project the screen on that wall and watch from my bed,” Minki said, pointing to the empty wall right across him. Dongho gave him a funny look.

 

“Are you trying to get me sick too?” He joked.

 

“I don’t want you to sit on the floor,” Minki said shyly, forcing himself to peek at Dongho. A look of mild surprise flashed across Dongho’s face for a split second before his face broke out into a soft smile.

 

A few minutes later, the opening credits of Star Wars Episode IV was projected onto Minki’s wall. The blinds had been closed and the lights switched off, leaving the projected screen the only source of light in Minki’s room. 

 

Minki felt hyper aware of Dongho’s presence next to him as the two of them squeezed together on the single mattress. They were sitting shoulder to shoulder and Minki could feel the warmth of Dongho’s leg next to his own blanket covered leg.

 

“This is my favourite scene,” Dongho leaned towards Minki to murmur quietly. Minki swallowed and forced himself to keep his eyes on the movie. He didn’t want to think about how close Dongho was.

 

But as the movie went on, Minki felt himself relaxing a little more. He let himself lean slightly against Dongho as they watched. Dongho, it seemed, was a huge fan of this movie franchise and would excitedly whisper his opinions and point out little things that he said he hadn’t noticed the first time he watched. Minki couldn’t help but find it all very endearing and listened to the other’s musings.

 

Minki wasn’t sure when it happened, maybe around the 1 hour mark of the movie, but he had fallen asleep. The side effects of the medicine he had taken earlier hadn’t subsided and he felt his eyes drooping shut. He tried his hardest to stay awake but eventually gave in, letting his head fall against Dongho’s shoulder and shutting his eyes.

 

“Choi Minki.”

 

“Shut up, Hannie. Don’t wake him,”

 

“Dongho needs his shoulder back, Cheol. I’m just trying to help the poor guy out.”

 

“I’m fine, I swear. You guys don’t need to wake him…”

 

Minki let out a groan, burying his face into the warm object he had been resting his head against. “Piss off,” He mumbled against the fabric. Some snickering reached his ears and it took a moment for him to realise that the thing he had been curling up against was  _ breathing _ and  _ moving _ . He jerked back, nearly throwing himself against the wall before an arm reached out to gently pull him back.

 

“I’m so sorry, holy shit. I didn’t mean to fall asleep I swear,” Minki blabbered, looking everywhere else but at the boy he had been  _ attempting to cuddle against _ just moments before. Dongho laughed good-naturedly, the sound making Minki’s heart race even faster. 

 

“Why didn’t you tell us you were having a movie day?” Jeonghan demanded haughtily. Seungcheol elbowed him in the side and Jeonghan winked at Minki.  _ Fuck, Jeonghan’s not gonna let me live this down. _ Minki thought despairingly, shooting the best glare he could muster up in his condition.

 

“This was very… Spontaneous.” Minki said carefully. He didn’t need to give Jeonghan anymore ammo than he already had. Jeonghan looked between Minki and Dongho, clearly wanting to say something but biting his tongue back. “Anyways, what are you two even doing here?”

 

Seungcheol rolled his eyes, plopping himself down on Minki’s computer chair and rolling it closer to the bed. “Thought we’d stop by to entertain you. Clearly, someone beat us to it.” He said cheekily, giving Minki a knowing look. Never before had Minki felt such an intense need to throw something at someone in his life until that moment. 

 

Dongho slowly eased himself off Minki’s bed and Minki felt a slight pang of disappointment as Dongho’s warmth left his side. “I’m gonna… I have to go,” He said, the tips of his ears were red with what Minki could only assume was embarrassment. There was an awkward pause as Dongho picked his bag up from where he had set it down on Minki’s computer chair.

 

“Right, yeah,” Minki mumbled. He shot Jeonghan and Seungcheol looks, warning them not to do or say anything funny until Dongho had left. “Thanks, for um. For this afternoon.”

 

Dongho looked slightly flustered, and Minki couldn’t blame him since Jeonghan and Seungcheol were giving the two of them suggestive looks.  _ I’m going to skin them alive. _ Minki thought furiously. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll see you guys then.” He gave them all an awkward wave before slipping out Minki’s bedroom door.

 

As soon as the bedroom door was properly shut, Jeonghan immediately rounded on Minki. “What’s going on between you and Dongho?” He demanded. Minki coughed loudly and exaggerated his throat clearing efforts. “Don’t fake it, asshole. I saw you getting all cuddly with him. We all saw it.” Jeonghan said, pointing a finger at Minki.

 

“Cheol,” Minki whined. “Stop him, please! I’m too sick to deal with him right now!”

 

“But not too sick to cuddle with Dongho? Okay. I guess I know where our friendship stands.” Jeonghan sniffed. Seungcheol snickered and gave Minki a slightly apologetic look.

 

“I’m on Hannie’s side here. What’s up between you two? I’ve never seen you get all moony over someone this fast.” Minki bit his lip. 

 

“I’m not being ‘moony’,” He huffed. “I didn’t ask him to come over… He just did. And then I figured we’d watch a movie to pass time. I didn’t mean to fall asleep! And I did  _ not _ mean to ‘cuddle’ him, I was still half-asleep when that happened. So it doesn’t count.” He didn’t know if he was trying to convince Jeonghan and Seungcheol or himself. 

 

His two friends clearly didn’t look convinced by this. Jeonghan settled down on the chair where Dongho’s things had been just moments before. He looked at Mink with an unreadable expression. It made Minki feel nervous and he coughed in response.

 

“I guess we have nothing to do here, Cheol,” Jeonghan announced as he leaned back away from Minki. “Dongho’s already cheered up our poor, sick Minki.”

 

“You guys are really just going to leave?” Minki said doubtfully. “Just like that? You don’t wanna stay and talk or whatever?” Seungcheol scoffed but gave him a soft smile.

 

“I don’t really think you want to talk to  _ us _ right now. Besides, we’re only gonna talk about what you don’t want to talk about so we might as well just leave you be.” Seungcheol, frustratingly enough, was right. Minki wanted Dongho to come back. He wanted to… Talk to him? Apologise to him? 

 

“We’ll leave you to it then,” Jeonghan sniffled and stood up after Minki, having being too absorbed in his own thoughts, stayed silent. “Call us when you sort out your love life.” He stalked out of the room while Minki shook his head and smiled faintly, used to Jeonghan’s dramatics.

 

_ Easier said than done _ .

 

____________________

  
  


"Who do you keep texting? All your friends are here," Jeonghan commented as he reached over to swipe some grapes from Jonghyun's lunch tray. Jonghyun jumped a little, as if he hadn't been aware of Jeonghan's presence, before putting his phone face down on the table.

 

"No one," He said calmly. The phone vibrated twice, then once more, drawing the attention of everyone else at the table. Jeonghan looked unfazed and continued talking to Seungcheol about whatever it was they were talking about. Dongho also didn’t seem too interested. Minki, however, noticed a strange expression on Jonghyun’s face. And a faint tinge of pink on his ears? Interesting. Minki would have to corner him about this soon.

 

Minki's return to school on Tuesday meant a number of things:

 

  1. Catching up on missed classes
  2. Making up for his missed shifts at the cafe
  3. Seeing Dongho again after The Incident



 

Thankfully, his friends were kind enough to let him copy their notes. Minki had spent most of morning break and copying down the notes from the classes Dongho didn't share with him and was finishing the rest of it now during lunch. 

 

Dongho, to Minki's relief, didn't seem too perturbed by the sleeping incident and had greeted him with the same easygoing smile and chatter that Minki was so painfully familiar with. Now, the two of them sat side by side again. Minki tried his best to focus on copying Jeonghan's horrible trig notes and diagrams while ignoring the familiar warmth of Dongho at his side as they squeezed together on the bench.

 

"I was thinking," Jonghyun started. Minki looked up from what he was doing. "Would one of you be interested in taking Seongwoo's place on the homecoming committee?"

 

Silence. 

 

"You're that desperate, huh?" Seungcheol commented before taking a swig from his cola can. Jonghyun sighed rested his forehead on the tabletop. 

 

"No one else in the committee wants to," He complained tiredly. "I really don't wanna have to step in and do it but..."

 

"I mean, I guess I could do it," Minki offered. Jonghyun's head snapped up and he looked at Minki with a concerned expression.

 

"You've got way too many things on your plate right now, you don't have to." He said quickly. Minki shook his head. 

 

"It's fine, really. Plus, it'll look good on my college apps. Gotta be proactive and all that jazz," He joked.

 

"I could help out too," Dongho said quietly. Everyone looked at him in surprise. He shrugged and poked at his pasta. "It's not like I'm doing much anyways. I could cover for Minki when he's got work or whatever."

 

Minki could have kissed Dongho right there. Jonghyun also looked like he was ready to kiss the two of them. But thankfully he didn’t. “Thanks guys,” He said, sounding almost teary. “I think I would have gone insane if I had to deal with homecoming on top of everything else I’m doing.”

 

“Does this mean we all have to go?” Seungcheol piped up. “To homecoming, I mean? Not that I’m complaining but I need to know so I have time to buy a tux or something.”

 

“I’m obligated to go,” Jonghyun said simply. Minki gaped at him and then at Dongho.

 

“Does that mean that  _ we, _ ” Minki pointed between himself and Dongho. “Are also obligated to go?” Jonghyun scratched the back of his neck.

 

“I mean uh, yeah? In case anything goes wrong, you guys are gonna be the first people that they’ll look for.” Minki groaned at this while Jeonghan looked strangely thoughtful. 

 

“Homecoming is gonna be real interesting this year,” He mused. Jonghyun shot him a wanring look.

 

“If you and Seongwoo are planning on spiking the punc-”

 

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, Bugi,” Minki’s lips twitched a little at the mention of Jonghyun’s old childhood nickname. “I was just saying that as the overseer of the rise of various interesting couples on campus, I’m merely looking forward to seeing their love blossom in the coming weeks until homecoming.”

 

Seungcheol chucked a grape at him in disgust. “Shut up, Shakespeare. You just want to rub your matchmaking skills in our faces.” 

 

Jeonghan scoffed, throwing the grape back at Seungcheol where it hit him squarely on the chin. “Please, I’ve paired off so many successful and happy couples. I’m practically Cupid.” The knowing look Jeonghan sent Minki’s way made his heart leap to this throat and for some reason Minki found himself glancing at Dongho. The boy in question wasn’t paying much attention and was back to spearing the rest of his pasta onto his fork. 

 

“I could use a Cupid in my life,” Seungcheol said wistfully. Jeonghan frowned at him, crossing his arms over his chest.

 

“Um, you have me?”

 

“I guess Hannie’s gonna have to find another date to Homecoming.”

 

“Hannie, I was joking! Where are you going?”

 

____________________

  
  


“Can I ask you a hypothetical question?” 

 

Minhyun arched an eyebrow but motioned for Minki to go on. It was a slow shift at  _ unsigned _ today. There were only two or three customers scattered around inside the cafe and they were both regulars who often stayed to write for hours. To keep themselves occupied, Minki and Minhyun had taken to counting the cars that passed by outside the cafe. In the last few minutes, however, it seemed that the road was empty and the lack of vehicles had left the two of them to wait in silence once again.

 

Minki cleared his throat. “Okay,” He slapped his hands down on the counter loudly and winced at how loud it was in contrast to the lack of noise in the cafe. “Say you liked someone.” Minhyun nodded attentively. “But you don’t know if they like you back but they’ve been going out of their way to do nice things for you but that could probably be because you guys are friends. Would you still take the chance and ask them to go to homecoming with you? Because what if that ruins things between you guys and makes things weird and you end up not even being friends anymore?”

 

Minhyun was silent for a moment and Minki could practically  _ hear _ the wheels turning in his brilliant mind. “Hypothetically? I would. Ask them to homecoming, I mean.” Minhyun replied. “Because even if they reject my offer at least I can say that I tried. Instead of having never tried and spending the rest of my life wondering what would have happened if I  _ had _ asked. It just keeps me from having those regrets, you know? Those ‘what if’s?”

 

_ Damn Minhyun and his stupidly logical reasons. _ Not that Minki was thinking about asking Dongho to homecoming. It was all hypothetical. 

 

“I guess that’s true,” Minki admitted. He straightened up from where he was leaning against the counter and stretched a little. “I didn’t peg you for the brave type though, you’re always hiding behind the counter whenever Jonghyun stops by.” He let out a laugh as Minhyun choked on his spit at this. The handsome boy straightened up as well and busied himself with re-rolling his sleeves.

 

“I do  _ not _ hide,” Minhyun protested feebly. Minki gave him a doubtful look and patted his shoulder as he passed behind him. “Anyways, does this mean you’re going to your school’s homecoming?” The boy asked slyly, shooting him a glance. Minki shrugged and reached up to get the bag of coffee beans to refill the machine.

 

“I sort of ended up being the lead for the planning committee? I guess I pretty much  _ have _ to go,” He said, finally grabbing hold of the bag he needed.

 

Minhyun slid closer. “Do you have anyone you want to ask? Is that why you were asking me that stuff earlier?” Minki nearly spilled all the coffee beans onto the floor. He whirled around to face Minhyun.

 

“No! I was just genuinely curious about what you would do if you were ever in that position.” He said hotly. He marched past the other boy to reach the machine and began refilling the beans. “And besides, I bet you don’t have a problem with homecoming dates. People probably throw themselves at your feet hoping you’d ask them.” Minhyun only let out a laugh at this so Minki could only assume he was right.

 

The rest of the shift reamined uneventful. Aron didn’t show up at all, meaning that Dongho also probably didn’t show up which meant that Minki could keep onto his sanity for a little while longer. When Minhyun got tired of counting cars, Minki decided to take out his notes and do his homework at the counter while Minhyun was busy texting away on his phone.

 

About half an hour before closing, the bell chimed. Minki straightened up, excited to finally have a new customer and grinned when he saw Jonghyun stepping into the cafe. “You didn’t tell me you were stopping by today,” Minki said accusingly when Jonghyun got to the counter.

 

“Yeah well, the council meeting ended early. Thought I’d come and drive you home, I know you have a lot of homework and stuff to catch up to,” Jonghyun grinned. 

 

Minki shot him a grateful smile as he began making Jonghyun’s usual order. “I’d be dead in a ditch without you, I swear.” Jonghyun laughed at this and leaned against the counter lightly, looking around the place as he waited for his drink.

 

“Is it just you today? It’s pretty empty, huh?” He commented as he took notice of the only other two customers. 

 

“Nah,” Minki set Jonghyun’s drink down near him and wiped his hands on one of the hand towels. “Minhyun’s in the back taking a break. He should be out soon though, we’re supposed to be closing up in a little bit.”

 

Jonghyun was quiet for a bit as he sipped from his mug. He looked at Minki with a weird expression, causing Minki to suddenly feel nervous. “What?” Minki demanded, crossing his arms. “I know that look, just ask me about whatever it is that’s bugging you.”

 

Minki regretted saying this as soon as Jonghyun opened his mouth and said, “Can we talk about you and Dongho? You said another day and, well, today is another day.” Sighing, Minki closed his eyes.  _ Here I go. _

 

Opening his eyes again, he motioned for Jonghyun to come sit with him at one of the seats closest to the counter. “There’s really nothing much to talk about,” Minki began. Jonghyun listened intently and nodded. “I don’t uh, intensely admire him anymore. Dongho, I mean. I just… I think I like him? Like  _ really _ like him. And now I don’t know if I should do anything about it.”

 

“You don’t have to do anything about it yet,” Jonghyun replied as he stirred his coffee. “Look, I can tell Dongho really cares for you too. And I don’t know whether it’s in the way you hope for it to be but I’d just let things play out. If you wanna confess to him or ask him out, I’m sure he wouldn’t just abandon you if it turned out he doesn’t feel the same. There’s nothing wrong with giving it a shot. At least you can say you tried.”

 

“You think so?” Minki asked nervously. Setting down his mug, Jonghyun looked at him with a serious expression.

 

“Minki, I know so. And I know that if you confess and he reacts like an asshole, Jeonghan and Seungcheol will literally rip him to shreds.” He said half-jokingly. Minki let out an amused snort but smiled softly. “But I’m pretty sure Dongho wouldn’t intentionally do anything to hurt your feelings.”

 

“I guess you’re right. But I don’t think I’m brave enough to do anything yet though.” Minki said, leaning back in his seat. “It was tiring and stressful enough to just  _ acknowledge _ this. Literally it just suddenly it hit me the other day like damn, I like the way he smiles and laughs and I don’t like it when he’s not there. And I get those butterflies in my stomach whenever he’s near me. All that sappy shit, you know?”

 

“You love that sappy shit, you literally watch it all the time in those rom-coms you binge on every month.”

 

“Yeah but I didn’t realise how exhausting it was gonna be to actually  _ experience _ it.” Minki huffed. The smile that Jonghyun gave him made Minki feel a lot better about everything. Jonghyun always had that effect on people. He always managed to make them feel like everything was going to be okay in the end. And in the end, Jonghyun was usually right. 

 

“Minki?” Minhyun called out loudly as he exited the back room. Minki waggled his eyebrows at Jonghyun before getting up and pulling Jonghyun to his feet as he did so. “Could you start clearing up the tables and the floor? I’ll do the cash register and then we’re good to go.” 

 

“Look who stopped by to pick me up,” Minki was grinning as he dragged Jonghyun over to Minhyun. For his part, Minhyun was surprisingly less of a mess than the first few times Jonghyun had come by and even gave the other boy a confident smile.

 

“Long time no see,” He said, tilting his head slightly. Jonghyun smiled back easily and Minki looked between the two of them before a light bulb went off in his head.

 

_ Ah. Minhyun must have already found a date to his homecoming. That’s why he doesn’t look so nervous in front Jonghyun, because he’s already found someone else. Shame though, _ Minki thought as he watched the two of them make small talk.  _ They kinda look good together _ .

 

As they drove off half an hour later, Minki felt the urge to tell Jonghyun about the Incident. Glancing over nervously at his friend, he leaned over and turned down the volume on the stereo. Jonghyun stopped mid-rap (?) and gave him a questioning look. 

 

“So uh, you remember how you visited me? When I was sick at home?” Minki pressed. Jonghyun had his eyes fixed onto the road but nodded to show that he was listening. “Okay well Dongho stopped by after you did an-”

 

“Oh! This is the cuddling thing that Jeonghan told me about, right?” Minki gaped at Jonghyun who just shrugged. “He called me after he and Cheol left your place that day. I was wondering when you were gonna tell me about it, I was starting to get a little hurt honestly.”

 

Minki threw himself back against his seat dramatically and closed his eyes.

 

“I swear, I’m going to pluck out every single piece of hair on his sorry head.”


	9. you look like cupid shoved an arrow up your ass

It was rare for Jeonghan to be in a very bad mood. He’d have his little dramaticisms here and there but he was rarely ever upset or mad to the point where everyone around him could practically _feel_ hostility rolling off of him in waves. In fact, the last time Minki could remember Jeonghan being in this state was in elementary school when Seungcheol accidentally snipped some of his hair off. Jeonghan didn’t speak to him for days and when he finally did it was only to call the other boy an idiot after Seungcheol shaved his own hair in an attempt to make peace.

 

Funnily enough it was Seungcheol, once again, who had managed to put Jeonghan in such a foul mood. Seungcheol’s Cupid comment from the previous day seemed to have done more damage than any of them could have anticipated. Jeonghan hardly looked at Seungcheol the entire morning and had chosen to stick to Minki and Jonghyun like glue throughout their classes. Minki wouldn’t have minded this if not for the fact that it meant that Dongho ended up having to find someone else to sit with.

 

Not that it was a big deal or anything, Minki would tell himself. But he couldn’t help but to keep glancing over a few seats down to where Dongho was seated every now and then. Sometimes Dongho would catch him looking but would smile back in response, unperturbed by Minki’s blatant staring.

 

“He’s just as dense as Cheol is,” Jeonghan muttered under his breath when he finally noticed Minki’s glances at Dongho. Minki felt his ears turn warm and elbowed the other boy in the side.

 

“When are you and Cheol gonna fix things for good? You two have been running circles around each other for years,” Minki whispered furiously. He took mild satisfaction in the uncomfortable expression that flashed across Jeonghan’s face for a split second before a scowl settled in.

 

“There’s nothing to fix,” Jeonghan’s tone was haughty but from the way the corners of his mouth pulled down slightly and the way his eyes flicked over to the other side of the room where Seungcheol was sitting sullenly, it was clear that he cared more than he was willing to say at that moment.

 

The next day, Minki fled to the library before lunch started after deciding that he needed a break from the Jeonghan/Seungcheol storm. Fate must have been smiling down at Minki because he found Dongho already sitting at their usual study spot. The smile that Dongho sent his way made Minki’s legs turn to jelly and he nearly collapsed against the bookshelves. Thankfully, he didn’t. The librarian would have had his neck for causing a mess.

 

“Haven’t seen you all day,” Dongho commented as Minki sat down across him. “How were things? Jeonghan still looks like he’s ready to strangle the next person to piss him off.” Minki let out a lifeless laugh and sighed.

 

“He and Cheol need to talk things out, it’s getting ridiculous,” Minki said.

 

“What’s their deal though? I thought they were dating but now it seems like they weren’t really?” Dongho asked, clearly confused. Minki sighed.

 

“It’s… Complicated,” He said, biting his lip. Dongho shrugged and scooted closer.

 

“I’ve got time,” Dongho grinned.

 

So Minki told him. He told him about how Jeonghan and Seungcheol had always been attached at the hip since they were kids. About how Jeonghan had been Seungcheol’s first kiss. Jeonghan would never admit it but Seungcheol was probably his first love. Even though they had never explicitly said they were a couple, the rest of the school had already had some kind of understanding that flirting with Seungcheol meant instant death at the hands of Jeonghan and vice versa.

 

“Can’t really picture Seungcheol getting angry though,” Dongho said, trying to imagine it. Minki shook his head.

 

“Trust me, you don’t want to see it. He looks like a gentle giant but the boy’s low-key ripped as hell and his thighs alone could take down a bear,” He said darkly. Dongho looked at his own legs.

 

“I think could take him,” He joked. Minki let out a sound between a snort and a laugh, causing a couple of people from the other tables to shoot him dirty glares.

 

“Anyways,” Minki began again, after calming down. “They’re both idiots who need to talk things out. Jeonghan’s never been good with listening to his own advice, which is ironic considering that he actually gives really good advice. And Seungcheol just needs to stop joking around for once and take this whole thing seriously.”

 

Dongho, who had been listening attentively, frowned a little. “It’s been years though, why haven’t they talked it out before?”

 

“Wouldn’t it scare you?” Minki asked. “To take a step towards something that could totally change everything you’ve been comfortable with? To risk everything for something that might not even work out?”

 

“It would.”

 

Dongho was looking at him intently now. Minki could see a hundred different emotions swimming behind the other boy’s eyes but before Minki could even try to decipher any of it, Dongho looked away and cleared his throat.

 

_What was that?_

 

To say that things got awkward after that was an understatement. Minki could feel something different in the air. Something left unspoken. That was one thing about Dongho which Minki had noticed. He tended to leave a lot of things left unsaid. It was almost as if he was scared of saying too much too soon. It often left Minki wondering if Dongho would ever feel 100% ready to talk about anything and everything. He wasn’t going to pry though, Dongho probably had his own reasons for behaving this way.

 

“Are you coming later?” Minki decided to tactfully switch the subject. “To the homecoming meeting?” Dongho looked at him and nodded.

 

“Of course. I promised, didn’t I?”

 

And the little smile he gave made Minki’s knees weak once again.

 

____________________

  


“Okay,” Minki clapped his hands and looked around the room. The homecoming committee wasn’t as large as he thought it would be (to his relief) and he was glad to see some familiar faces. Seungkwan, the boy that Jeonghan had been helping, was there along with Joshua, a soft-spoken boy he recognised from choir. Dongho was seated next to him and Minki could see how the other students were eyeing him curiously, probably trying to figure out why he was there.

 

“We’ve got about two months until homecoming,” Minki started. The other students nodded attentively, encouraging him to go on. It was going smoothly so far. Minki’s suggestion to split up into smaller teams to tackle the different logistical matters was received favourably and everyone was enthusiastically discussing amongst themselves. Dongho was observing everything with slight trepidation in his eyes but Minki could see how hard he was trying to brainstorm along with Seungkwan, who volunteered to be in charge of the decoration team.

 

“Minki? What do you think?” Joshua was poking his arm lightly now, trying to get Minki’s attention. Minki was startled when he realised he’d been staring at Dongho for the past few minutes instead of listening to Joshua’s suggestion about catering for the night of the dance.

 

“Sorry, could you repeat that?” Minki asked sheepishly. Joshua gave him a knowing look but continued on without saying anything else about what had just transpired.

 

As the meeting carried on, Minki kept his eye on Dongho. Purely out of concern of course. Dongho had settled in and was now chatting amicably with Vernon. The two seemed to be in deep discussion about something and Minki felt his heart leap when he saw how comfortable Dongho was.

 

Why Dongho had disappeared for those few weeks in sophomore year and why he kept to himself up until now was still a mystery to Minki. It was clear that Dongho was effortlessly charming when he wasn’t hiding behind his reclusive facade. The other students around them were looking at Dongho with renewed interest and a few of the girls were eyeing him and whispering excitedly.

 

Minki frowned as one girl, Nayoung, stood up and made her way over to where Dongho and Vernon were sitting. Dongho noticed her approaching and gave her a small, friendly smile.

 

“Dongho, right?” Nayoung said, looking at him with interest. It wasn’t hard to see that she was checking him out from the way her eyes scanned Dongho from head to toe. Dongho seemed unaware of this and nodded.

 

“Yeah, sorry I don’t really know your name.” Dongho said apologetically. Nayoung giggled and Minki saw red.

 

“I’m Nayoung,” She said sweetly. “Listen, I was wondering if you were free this weekend? A couple of us were going to go check out some of the local bands, just to see if any of them are decent enough to book for homecoming. Do you wanna come?”

 

“Uh, su-”

 

“He’s busy.” Minki hadn’t realised he had gone over to Dongho’s side of the room until he found himself facing Nayoung and the weight of the words that had just burst out of him. Nayoung looked mildly confused while Dongho was staring at him with something that looked like amusement in his eyes. Minki could also feel the gazes of other curious people nearby and he suddenly wished that a fissure would open up beneath him and swallow him whole.

 

“Yeah, I’m kinda busy,” Dongho echoed. At his words, Minki looked at him in surprise. Dongho gave him a small grin before turning back to Nayoung. “Minki’s helping me revise for bio. Maybe another time?”

 

It was hard to resist the smile that Dongho gave Nayoung and Minki could say this from experience. Nayoung looked slightly disappointed but returned Dongho’s smile likewise. Minki felt himself scowling and turned away. “That’s too bad… Yeah, maybe we could hang out some other time.” Minki heard Dongho say something along the lines of “Yes, definitely.” before he heard Nayoung leave.

 

“Minki hyung? Are you okay?” Vernon’s voice asked with worry. “You’re looking a little constipated there.”

 

After wrapping up the meeting, Minki found himself walking home with Dongho. They were silent for the first half of the way until Dongho spoke up. “Wanna watch a movie on Saturday?” Minki stopped dead in his tracks. _Was he hearing that right?_

 

“What?” He asked dumbly. Dongho stopped walking too and was looking at him nervously.

 

“A movie? On Saturday? I don’t really want to lie to Nayoung but I also don’t want to study bio. So I figured we could do something else?”

 

Minki stared at Dongho. _A movie? Like a date?_ The boy looked a little flustered at Minki’s silence and looked away.

 

“I mean, it’s okay. We don’t have to do anything. I just thou-”

 

“Yes.” Minki replied, smiling softly. Dongho looked at him with mild shock painting his face. “Do you wanna see the new Jurassic Park?”

 

The smile that blossomed on Dongho’s face mirrored the one on Minki’s own and he felt his heart do flips in his chest as Dongho nodded in response. “Yeah? I mean, yeah I’m totally down for that.”

 

“Cool, so I guess we’re set for this Saturday then.” Minki said breezily. It was hard to contain the excitement he was feeling. It was even harder for him to push down the urge to hold Dongho’s hand as they continued walking.

 

The moment Minki closed the door to his room, he threw himself down on his bed and furiously texted Jonghyun about what had just transpired.

 

**_to: bugi_ **

_DALSKDA DONGHO WANTS TO WATCH A MOVIE WITH ME THIS SATURDAY_

_HEL P_

 

**_from: bugi_ **

_finally :)_

 

____________________

  


“You look like Cupid shoved an arrow up your ass,” Kenta pointed out slyly. Minki scowled and threw the slightly damp hand towel he had been rinsing at the Japanese boy.

 

“What? Where are you even learning all these phrases?” Minki demanded. Kenta looked at him smugly before dashing off to take an order at the register. Jonghyun chuckled from where he was sitting.

 

“Minki’s got a date this Saturday,” He supplied helpfully when Kenta returned from the register. The Japanese boy looked at Minki with wide eyes and grabbed him by the arm, clinging on tightly as he jumped for joy on the spot.

 

“I’m so happy for you!” There was nothing but pure, genuine happiness in Kenta’s voice and Minki couldn’t help but feel excited, letting his apprehension melt away for a bit. “Who is it? Is he someone from your school?” Kenta asked after letting go.

 

Minki rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Yeah, he’s from my school. We were partners for biol-”

 

“That’s so cute!” Kenta trilled. He sighed and leaned against the counter. “You should introduce him to us here! I want to make sure he’s got good intentions.”

 

 _Bring him here? Dongho? Here?_ The realisation that Dongho didn’t know that Minki knew about him coming to this cafe struck him like a lightning bolt. He thought of how Minhyun and Aron seemed so bent on keeping them apart. He swallowed guiltily, pushing down the thoughts that had begun to creep up on him again.

 

“It’s just one date,” Minki said hesitantly. “It might not even lead to anything else after.”

 

Kenta scoffed and waved his hand dismissively. “Be more positive, Minki. You never know what might happen.”

 

“Right,” Minki trailed off, trying to force himself to believe Kenta’s words. The Japanese boy patted him reassuringly before disappearing into the back room. Jonghyun was smiling at Minki with an amused expression. “Stop that,” Minki scowled, turning around to busy himself by rearranging the syrup pumps.

 

Jonghyun chuckled. “I haven’t seen you this flustered over a guy in ages, cut me some slack.” Minki scoffed.

 

“Aren’t you one to talk. Don’t think I haven’t seen you texting _in class_ Mr. Class President.” Minki said loudly. He heard Jonghyun choke on his drink and smiled to himself, satisfied. Turning around, he looked over at his best friend and found him hastily wiping down the small mess he made.

 

“We’re just friends,” Jonghyun said defensively as Minki sat down across him. “And I was gonna tell you about Minhyun sooner but then you and Dongh-”

 

“Minhyun?” Minki half-yelled in shock. He ignored the dirty look one of the cafe regulars sent his way and stared at Jonghyun. “ _Minhyun_? As in my co-worker Minhyun? _That_ Minhyun?”

 

Jonghyun’s cheeks were pink now and he nodded. “I came by to study the afternoon after I stopped by your place. Minhyun and I chatted for a bit and then we exchanged numbers. We’ve been texting ever since. Just as friends, of course.” He added quickly. Minki’s mind was still reeling from the revelation.

 

“I can’t believe… I was lying on the brink of death and you were out hitting on my co-worker…” He said, in mock betrayal. Jonghyun snorted and flicked a tissue at him.

 

“Says the one who got real snuggly with their bio partner on his sickbed.” Now it was Minki’s turn to turn pink.

 

“I told you! I didn’t mean to do it!” He said hotly. Jonghyun laughed.

 

“Not _consciously_ at least. But clearly your _sub_ conscious is on board the Dongho express.”

 

“Please, never say that again.”

 

The two were interrupted by the arrival of a new customer, signalled by the familiar chiming of bells. “I expect full details later,” Minki said pointedly at Jonghyun before hurrying off to take the customer’s order.

 

After passing the order to Kenta, who re-emerged from the back room, Minki felt his phone buzz in his pocket.

 

**_from: tiger (7:46pm)_ **

_hey, i thought we could grab lunch before the movie tomorrow_

_i’ll meet you at 12pm at the diner?_

 

**_to: tiger (7:50pm)_ **

_sounds good see u then! :)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .... i'm back....
> 
> i'm so sorry for the long wait! i just finished my internship so summer vacation has just officially begun for me. hopefully this means faster updates for this and the parent trap au as well. 
> 
> also nuest's comeback was!! spectacular!!! i really loved deja vu as well as the rest of the album. i wonder how they'll perform these songs when minhyun returns to them... 
> 
> anyways i hope you all enjoyed this chapter! i sped things up (hopefully it seems that way) and i hope the flow doesn't feel too rushed or anything
> 
> thank you and i love you all for still reading this even though i'm literally the worst at updating consistently :( ❤


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